


Begin Again

by PipperHearts



Series: Unbonded [4]
Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alice has trouble seeing the future, Angst, Bisexual Bella Swan, Carlisle is jealous, Clearly both Bella and Carlisle are emotionally inept, Edward is asexual and aromatic, Esme is a person with her own issues, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Hurt, Marcus treats Bella like his daughter, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Burn, The Cullen household is a mess, They all need therapy, everyone is a mess, no I don't take criticism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:08:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 66,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28106022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PipperHearts/pseuds/PipperHearts
Summary: After 70 years, Carlisle tries to fix his mistake.
Relationships: Carlisle Cullen/Bella Swan
Series: Unbonded [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917256
Comments: 32
Kudos: 50





	1. Preface: Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> So, according to the ending of The Broken Bond, this story takes place 70 years in the future but for the purposes of me not wanting to imagine a future, lets just pretend the future is just like today. :)
> 
> Suggested song:  
> Back to December by Taylor Swift.

3rd Person POV

In the next few weeks after the Cullens arrived once more to the small and cloudy town of Forks, no one could deny the awkward atmosphere that flowed through the family. After all, a little over 70 years before, this land—which used to be viewed as the Cullens’ official territory—had lost its idealized status in the family’s eyes when it became the place where Bella had gotten her heart broken by Carlisle.

Even though Bella had accepted to try again to have a relationship when Carlisle had contacted her a couple of years ago, neither of them knew how to move forward, they still had feelings for each other, a confession that had taken Carlisle by surprise; jet, both had issues they didn’t know how to overcome.

At some point, each member of the family had asked themselves internally if it had been a good idea for Forks to be the town where Bella and Carlisle tried to reconnect. Bella assured them it was fine, she said that she liked it there, which was partially true, she did have a lot of good memories of the different stages of the family at different times they lived in the area. At first, it had only been the married couple and Edward a couple of years after he was changed. Because the first time they hadn’t really integrated with the community, they were able to return merely a decade later with Rosalie and Emmett in the mid-1930s. Finally, they had come back in the mid 2010s with Jasper and Alice.

Though Bella had never been a good liar, the happy memories she conjured in her mind helped her conjure negative answers whenever she was asked if she’d rather move to any other town, because those mental images prevented everyone to see the pain and melancholy the same place now caused her.

Bella had been extra careful around Jasper, for everyday she saw her son with apprehension in his eyes, probably fearing that at any second she would go back to that emotionally empty state she had been in her heartache after Carlisle almost consummated his affair. Though at first she was grateful her children were so preoccupied with her well-being, as the decades went by—as bad as it sounded—, she started to resent them. Bella hated being treated like she was going to break any moment someone looked at her or touched her for more than a couple of seconds. She hated the awkward stances the kids were in as if someone were forcing them to choose between her and Carlisle.

“Stop,” Bella said cuttingly to Jasper one afternoon they both were in the her library reading. “I know what you are doing, I don’t _need_ nor _want_ you to make me feel better all the time.” He flinched at her words as she continued speaking, more aggravated than she wanted to sound in response to the frustration that had been growing in her for about a week since they had arrived. In that time she had felt the blond boy changing her mood constantly, forcing her to be happy or at least content.

“Sorry.” He answered looking to the ground.

She sighed, regretting using such a harsh tone with him. Usually, Bella thought it was curious how a man that had fought in both human and vampiric wars could act so childlike when spoke with severity and the time she brought that up, he had answered that it was because she was his mom. It had been one of those moments when she realized how the family they posed as wasn’t all a façade after all, Jasper and his siblings _did_ see both Bella and Carlisle as their parents more than just the leaders of the coven, so she hated using her stern voice unless it was necessary.

“No, I’m sorry,” Bella answered him, closing her eyes and book in exasperation at the situation. “I’m sorry I snapped at you, I know you are trying to help and I appreciate it, really, but I don’t need it.” Jasper glanced unsure at her. “I’m ok, I promise.” She added trying to convince him and herself at the same time.

In the end, Jasper left it at that.

* * *

As the summer came to an end, the kids were getting ready to start high school once more, which meant—at least in Alice’s world—shopping. The five of them had gone to Seattle early in the morning to look for clothes and accessories that would help them appear younger than they were, allowing them to stay in the perfectly gloomy Forks a little longer; in the meantime, Carlisle and Bella had stayed at home sorting a few things for enrolling the kids and Carlisle going to work.

“Hi.” Carlisle called to get her attention away from the garden she was starting in the back of their house.

“Hi” She answered as she kept replanting some flowers from their small pots into the soil she had already prepared.

“I was hoping to ask you something.” He started saying while kneeling by her side helping her depot the plants while she moved them into their new home. Though they had already talked about their situation when they had arrived, Carlisle still wasn’t sure how to proceed when discussing these topics. It didn’t help that Bella stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him with those big doe eyes of hers.

He fixated his sight on the ground, his nervousness making him incapable of maintaining eye contact with her. He always loved Bella’s eyes, for they always reflected her emotions perfectly, but now, he was afraid to look into them and see the rejection he thought he deserved from her.

“I… I know we talked about going slow and I don’t want to pressure you, but as you know, I’m planning on going back to work in a couple of weeks and… Well…” He hesitated like a schoolboy asking his crush to prom. “You know that with the vampiric traits there’s always the attention of humans that feel attracted to us and… It’s just that… I mean, it's easier if…” He tried to keep going as he stared once more into Bella’s eyes, who was waiting patiently for him to finish asking what he intended. “I was wondering if you would mind if I used my wedding band and we present ourselves as a married couple to the town, this would mean you would need to use your ring in public but I don’t want you to do anything you don’t feel ready to. I also acknowledge that this doesn’t mean you and I are once more a couple outside of the roles we play to fit into society…”

“Ok.” Was Bella’s overly succinct answer. “Is that all?”

“Well, yes.” He answered as he played with the petals of a white flower that still rested in its small provisional pot. “Have you decided what you want to do this time?”

“I have been thinking on getting a job, though I worked for the majority of the last 5 decades so I was also contemplating going back to school, the University of Washington hasn’t started and with Jasper’s contact I might be able to get into one of their programs.”

“Oh.” Was the first thing that came out of Carlisle’s mouth as he thought about Bella spending most of her time in Seattle. “Would you be staying here or will you move?”

“I did think about living on campus but I think I’ll stay here and drive to the city.”

“But wouldn’t it be a long commute every day?”

“Well yes but it’s not like we get tired, besides, I can get there in half the time it would take a human.” She added with a small smile.

He listened to her words carefully, though he knew he had no right to feel jealous over her and in a way they weren’t really together, he couldn’t help but feel relieved as he learned she wouldn’t be living away from Forks. He tried to control his feelings cause he promised to let her lead the way of the second chance she had given him, but he couldn’t deny he was afraid of loosing her, Bella was a beautiful woman and with her physical twenty years old when he turned her, Carlisle knew she would have more than one college student interested in her.

At the same time, as Bella looked at his face, she felt a little frustrated when he didn’t show any emotions when she mentioned she planned on living in Seattle, she questioned to herself if he didn’t care, so she asked. “What do you think?”

“About you living in the city?” Bella nodded. “Well, if you’d like that, I won’t oppose to your decisions.”

Disappointment filled her as he answered her in quite an uninterested manner, so she turned to look again at the flowers, continuing to replant them, with a lingering feeling of sadness and hurt she couldn’t control. “Maybe I’ll stay here, I missed the family and there wouldn’t be a point in having agreed to move back together if I’m spending almost everyday away from all of you.” She spoke again after a couple of seconds and though she didn’t see it, Carlisle’s eyes sparkled with hope with her answer in silence.

* * *

As the weeks passed, the Cullens went back to their perfected routine of pretending to be humans. This time, Rose and Jasper would play the usual part of twins and with Emmett, they started as Juniors in High School, while Edward posed as sophomore and Alice—being so tiny—played as a freshman, giving them at least 4 years in Forks. Carlisle would pretend to be 28 while Bella had the hardest role of faking 26 with the help of makeup.


	2. I. New Life

Carlisle’s POV

I stared at the mirror as I finished getting ready for the day, I tightened the oxford grey tie I had chosen to wear with my light blue dress shirt and combed my hair, I put on my blazer and walked out of my room and into my office to grab my briefcase and my lab coat.

As I grabbed some papers we would need later, I heard the familiar pattern of her steps that preceded a polite knock at the already open door. “Good morning.” She said standing in the doorstep in a fancier shirt than her usual t-shirts, a piece that was coordinated with black skinny jeans and heels, a kind of outfit I hadn’t seen her a while, and judging by her demeanor, something she wasn’t used to wear anymore.

“Good morning.” I answered, drawing my eyes back to the files I had in my hand in shame when I caught myself admiring her.

“Do you have the documents we need to give the school for the kids?”

“Yes, I was just putting them into my briefcase.”

“Great. Are you ready to go?”

I nodded. “Are you borrowing a car?” I asked knowing she hadn’t purchased a new automobile yet.

“Edward offered me his Volvo, knowing I don’t really fancy extravagant rides, he said they could use Emmett’s Jeep.”

“It’ll be a bit uncomfortable for the five of them to ride together in one car. Are they taking Rose’s or Alice’s?”

“I don’t know, they try to not use the more conspicuous vehicles in the first days, so I thought about carpooling with them and taking the Volvo back home and then picking them up at the end of the day.”

“I can drive you if you want, so that you don’t have to pick them up later.” I offered looking into her eyes.

“Don’t you have to go straight to the hospital? I’d hate to be a nuisance.”

“It’s no problem.” I answered returning my gaze to the ground. "I can drive you back home before going to work, I’ll just send them a quick message telling them I’ll be a few minutes late.”

“Ok, then, but only if you really don’t think it’ll be a problem.” I reassured her again looking at her face, wondering if her reluctance was caused by an uncomfortable sensation in reaction to the prospect of ridding alone with me; nevertheless, her face was neutral. “Well, let me just grab my purse, the kids are already in the garage, I’ll see you outside.” She answered as and agreement causing me to nod previously to retrieving my Mercedes.

As the kids drove to school in Edward and Emmett’s cars, their mother and I followed silently in mine to finish the matriculation of the kids into Forks High. Midway into the drive I saw her unclasp the chain that threaded through her wedding ring, taking the band out of it and slipping it on her finger. Even though I knew she would be doing this whenever we played our parts in public, I still felt a small tug in my unbeating heart when I saw the piece of jewelry adorning her finger like it had done for almost two centuries, but just as that feeling crossed my mind, the fact that it didn’t mean anything lingered in mi mind, tainting my optimism with endless waves of sorrow.

She turned to look at me as I realized I had been looking at her for a while now. “Is there something wrong?” She asked with genuine curiosity.

“No, of course not.” I said with a fake smile and as she looked like she was trying to puzzle me out, I wondered how much my facial expressions betrayed me.

I parked in the visitors' parking lot as the boys drove up the students’ lot. I killed the engine of the car and got out, intending to open the passenger’s door for her, I walked to her side, stopping a halfway there when I saw she had already gotten out of the car. She looked at me standing awkwardly. “I guess old habits die hard.” I said trying to laugh it off.

“Oh… I guess. No one had done this things for me in a while.” She responded with a blank face, something she had done a lot since we returned to Forks.

With that, I locked the car and walked into the main building, waiting for the kids to join us as they need to get their schedules from the same office where we had to turn in the documents. As we reached our destination, the usual reactions mede themselves present, the lady in the first desk stared at me for coupe of seconds before answering our salutations.

“What can I help you with, sir?” She asked with obvious lust in her voice, ignoring the fact that I wasn’t here alone, making the ambient a bit uncomfortable.

“ _We_ would like to finish the enrollment of our kids, my husband and I already started the process a couple of days ago, I think we just needed to bring some documents.” She answered with a bit of irritation in her voice, probably due to being ignored.

“O… Of course.” The lady answered intimidated. “May I have the names of the kids, please.” She asked looking down into her computer.

“Edward, Emmett and Alice Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale.” I answered taking the necessary files out of my brief case before handing them to her.

After the lady entered whatever necessary information in her computer, she printed some papers for the kids while she handed others to their mother and me to sign. After that, the kids went to their respective classes while Bella and I walked back to my car so that I could take her home.

As I started the Mercedes and pulled out of the parking lot, she took off her ring and hung it once more around her neck, hopefully ignorant to the sharp feeling that small action caused me.

Bella’s POV

Just like I had expressed to Carlisle, I decided to enroll into UW to pursue a degree in theatre, nevertheless even with the help of Jasper’s guy, the process wouldn’t be completed until after two weeks after the start of the semester, so I decided to wait until the spring term to begin attending college, and with the kids at school, it meant I had a lot free time in my hands. In a way I was somewhat relieved to have time for myself after the constant hovering of the kids who worried about my emotional state, which ended in me reassuring them time and time again of my well being, and them treating me like a porcelain doll about to break. It was such a constant task that I started to convince myself I was actually alright.

Although I didn’t feel nearly as bad as I did when Carlisle and I first separated, or even just a decade ago, I wasn’t completely fine, and that showed in the seeming endless hours I had to spend on my own. After Carlisle dropped me back by the house, I changed into more casual clothes before I went to tend to the garden for an unnecessary amount of time, followed by cleaning the house and rearranging the bookshelf in my room for the third time since we arrived. Then, I decided to kill some time hunting, yet even when I got myself into a fight with Edward’s favorite meal, nothing seemed to be able to keep me from my own thoughts, only resulting in my clothes being torn into useless rags as the mountain lion got some hits on me.

After draining it, I ran back home and into my room, selecting a new outfit that I took into the bathroom before preparing myself a bath. After realizing I was out of bath bombs, I walked into Rosalie’s room to look for some, deciding on a lavender one before returning to my own, making a mental note to replace the small product next time I went to Seattle. I dropped the spheric object into the tub, watching as it disolved into a bubbly mass as I quickly ran for a book and put on one of my playlists before undressing myself and getting in.

I took my time, leisurely going through the pages of the text I had selected while the water drop its temperature until it was no longer the relaxing warmth it started as. Quickly I shampooed my hair loving the smell of strawberries before washing my body, rinsing it from the remains of bloods and forest that clung to me thanks to my hunt.

After drying off, I put on another simple pair of black jeans, a t-shirt and some sneakers, letting my hair air-dry as I went to lay down on the main couch of the living room. I spent time going through the catalogs of the streaming platforms, looking for something to watch instead of actually watching something before getting frustrated and deciding on continuing with the book I had started earlier in the bath.

At some point I heard the kids’ cars nearing our driveway, followed by the all too common comments from everyone. They parked the vehicles inside the garage and one by one came walking—or dancing in Alice’s case—into the living room.

“I suppose it was as usual?” I asked closing my book.

“Somehow it’s worse” Answered Edward.

“Oh, come on, it wasn’t that bad.” Alice contradicted.

“Speak for yourself.” Rose said.

“That bad?” I asked sitting up in the middle of the couch.

“Well, like Alice said, it wasn’t all that bad, it was mostly the usual, the stares, the gossip,” Jasper started to explain. “But as always Rosalie and Edward receive the most attention.”

“I hate high school boys.” My blond daughter simply said sinking in the couch by my side. “The stares, the stupid comments, it’s infuriating!” She groaned closing her eyes before leaning into me, causing me to wrap my arm around her. “And then, one had THE AUDACITY to tell me that _I_ wouldn’t dress like I do if I didn’t want to receive attention! Alice had to hold my hand so that I didn’t punch him.”

“Instead, I just intimidated him until he apologized.” Emmett added with his characteristic carefree attitude. “Though, not everyone was that bad. The girl with the curly hair was really sweet about it.” He added.

“That’s true, I did feel bad rejecting her, she was actually nice…” Rose answered.

“I was sure she was going to pass out when you actually turned to look at her and smiled.” Em added with a small laugh.

“At least you can’t read their thoughts.” Continued Edward who had taken the seat at my other side, causing me to repeat my feature and wrapping my free arm around him. “Most of the girls aren’t too bad but the guys, for heaven’s sake, some of them are messed up!”

“Are you sure you aren’t saying that because you were attracting a lot of the male population’s attention?” Emmett asked with a smirk.

“Believe me, with what I saw, I wished it was just that… Apparently several people caught sight of Bella and Carlisle when they went into the office in the morning to finish our enrollment… It’s bad enough when its about us, it _scarring_ when its about mom and dad! And no Emmett, you don’t want know, you _really_ don’t wanna know”

“Was that why I had a vision of you throwing that kid all across the hallway? I had to send Jasper to stop you.”

Edward just nodded, he then turned to look at me apologetically. “Sorry, mom.”

I gave him a half smile trying not to think about what he had seen in that boy’s mind. “I don’t think I remember a first day being so maddening for you before.” I commented.

“It’s probably because we had been seen around town throughout the summer, we usually just arrive for the first day so it takes a couple of days or weeks for these reactions.”

A couple of moments later, as the kids were still venting from their first day at school, I heard Carlisle’s car approaching the house, followed by him entering minutes later.

“That bad?” He asked taking in the scene before him as I still had our eldest kids under my arms.

“You don’t have the faintest idea.” Edward answered. “Well, maybe you do.” He added turning to look at him, causing Carlisle to look uncomfortable at the ground.

* * *

A couple of days later, as I cleaned and organized my room, I realized I was in need of going shopping for a new wardrobe, as the last decades I had lived mostly of my own, though not as a nomad, I never played the part of a mother like I was this time, so I was able to get by with mostly jeans, leggings, t-shirts and sneakers, now, as I needed to age up, I knew it was useful to use the right kind of clothes.

I looked at the time on my phone, seeing it was only 11 in the morning, I decided to head to Seattle, so after a quick shower I got ready, I grabbed my wallet—leaving behind the black card Carlisle had given me for anything I could want—I shoved it into my purse with my phone before heading to the garage.

For the past decades I didn’t have the need for a car, as I took to living in cities where I could move by walking or public transport, so now I had to borrow one of the kids’ vehicles until I was able to buy me something; unfortunately, my options were limited to the obnoxiously bright cars of Rose and Alice. With a sight I sent Rose a text telling her I was taking hers at the same time that I made a mental note to check my bank account to see if I could buy my own.

Unlike Alice, I never really enjoyed shopping, seeing it more as a necessity than a hobby, so I sped twice the limit to get to Seattle in half the time, planing to get this over with as soon as possible. After reaching the mall, I went to buy some bath supplies for myself and to replace the one I had taken from Rosalie before tackling the dreaded activity of looking for new clothes.

Longing for my usual casual attire, I was looking into formal dresses, pants and blouses as well as some dressier shoes, though I disliked them, Alice’s voice came into my mind explaining that formal footwear, when worn properly, would always give you more presence and a more serious attitude than other kinds of shoes, and given that I was a 19 years old trying to feign 26, I did needed all the help fashion could provide.

As I tried on the mountains of clothes in the dressing room, I started to feel frustrated at the image in the mirror in front of me. I felt stupid, I mean, I was a vampire, basically the definition of perfection and beauty, but at the same time I couldn’t help but criticize my reflection. As the last decades passed, I realized that at some point I started to dislike what I saw, and although I was ashamed of admitting it even to myself, I was sometimes jealous. At some point, all things that didn’t used to bother me, where now constant questions in my head. Now… now I couldn’t help when my thoughts wandered to imagining a picture of her… Was she taller than me? Curvier than me? Where her lips fuller?

I hated it, every single time my mind thought about how she could’ve looked liked, I hated it. At some point I considered asked Edward for a description of her but I couldn’t, I couldn’t bring my self to actually know how she looked like, for I was afraid of confirming my suspicions, so I just had let my brain construct an idea of her that wandered my mind every once in a while consuming me from the inside.

At some point my train of thought was interrupted by the sales clerk asking if I needed something, after answering with a no and thanking her, she left, leaving me to finish trying on the clothes in silence. Though I tried not to let my mind travel again, the fact that most of the clothes would need some tailoring didn’t help.

After paying, I quickly went to look for some shoes before making my trip back to Forks, though I had considered on stoping by a car dealership, I thought it would’ve been better to ask Rose for help.

“So you do ask Rose for help to buy your car but you didn’t even waited for me to go with you shopping for clothes!” Alice said with a pout, storming into the garage as I parked the car.

I chuckled. “Sorry love but you were in class, your education is my priority.” I answered trying to fake seriousness, causing her to cross her arms and to deepen her pout. “Fine, next time you can skip class to come with me, I’ll even let you play Bella Barbie.” I said pulling her into a hug.

“Yay!” Was her exited answer, hugging me back with enthusiasm. “Well, come on then, let's see what you got!” Alice said taking the bags from the car and pulling me inside.

“Alright, alright.” I said as I let Alice lead me to my room. “Rose.” I quickly called when I passed the living room when I saw she was absentmindedly watching Emmett and Jasper playing a video game.

“Yes?” She asked walking with us into my wardrobe.

“I was wondering if you could help me pick a car.”

“Of course. Do you have anything in mind?”

“No, not really, given that you always modify them for our speed preferences, I think anything you can easily work on is fine, obviously nothing flashy and not too expensive, I’m planing on buying it myself.”

For a moment she raised her brow but as understanding filled her expression, she didn’t inquired further. “Ok, I think I have some ideas.”

After taking all the clothes I had purchased out of their bags, Alice started to put together some outfits, laying them on my bed, contemplating them with a serious and thoughtful expression as Rose an I sat in the corner trying not to disturb her concentration or get in her way as she went into my closet to look for anything she could use to compliment her visions. At some point of herroaming thought my things, she grunted before storming out of my room, making both Rose and I consider if we could leave.

“I’m not done!” Alice called from her own room as I had decided to occupy myself with something else, sitting back down and sharing a laugh with my first daughter due to her sister’s reaction.

A few moments later, Alice came back with some heels, silk scarfs, sunglasses and basically a small boutique in her seemingly feeble arms.

“Seriously, Bella! This is why you shouldn’t go shopping without me!” She said before rearranging the combinations she had been working on. “Now, put this on.” She said handling me a plum dress with thin straps that I had bought that morning with a black belt I already had and a pair of black Louboutin stilettos.

“Alice, I bought some shoes,” I said pointing to the flats that were still on their box.

“Don’t even mention those atrocities!” She said walking me to the full length mirror in my closet and pinching the fabric where the dress would need to be tailored, leaving it a little tighter than I would like. “There, it’s perfect, you look really nice!”

“You _do_ look really sexy.” Rose added.

“But it’s nothing like what I usually use…”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t know, isn’t this a bit too much?” I asked moving to see my self from different angles, making me self conscious once more.

“Nonsense!” Alice declared. “First of all, you agreed to let me play Bella Barbie. Second of all, you never know when you’d like to catch someone’s eye…” She said with a knowing wink making me glare at her in suspicion.

Saying nothing else, Alice went through the rest of my haul, making me try on the outfits she fixed, she left skipping out of my room with al the clothes that needed to be altered to fit my body, leaving her path of destruction for me to clean, a task Rosalie offered to help me with.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, after I repeated my routine of keeping the house in order and tending to the garden, I went to take a shower to get rid of the dirt and dust before finding something else to do, but as I sat in front of my vanity, still in my towel and practicing some of the current makeup looks Alice had suggested to make me look a bit older, though I had seen it multiple times, it was still a bit surprising to see what basically a bit eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush and a barely tinted lipstick could do. Just as I was admiring the final product, my phone rang indicating I had a message, as I picked it up I saw it was from my favorite pixie.

_Carlisle left some papers in the first drawer of his desk, he’s gonna call you in about 40 minutes to ask if you can bring them to him._

After putting my phone down, I blow-dried my hair and walked to my wardrobe I got a second text.

_The plum dress is fixed and hanging in your dresser. Use the black heels :)_

I rolled my eyes but followed her advice anyways. Though I was planning on wearing the look I had adopted since jeans became a socially accepted garment in women, thinking that I was supposed to be 26, I thought that maybe dressing a little more “grown up" was a wise choice, specially if I was going to step into Carlisle’s workplace.

After zipping my dress up and stepping into the red soles heels, I grabbed my purse before exiting my room and into Carlisle’s office to retrieve the documents. I walked to the garage, where a small groan left my mouth as I saw Rose hadn’t finished modifying the car I got, just then, a third text came through.

_Rose says ‘sorry, the Jeep isn’t ready either’ and that you can take hers, unless you want to take Jasper’s bike ;)_

With that, I reluctantly grabbed the keys to Rose’s red BMW—thanking I didn’t have to use Alice’s yellow Porsche—and got in, putting the papers in the passenger seat before taking off.

As I got to Forks General, I parked in the small visitors’ lot and once more I took my wedding ring off from the chain on my neck and slipped it on my left ring finger, I grabbed the papers and my purse before getting out of the car and locking it. I walked through the door and headed for the ER’s receptionist’s desk to ask for Carlisle’s office, but just as I was reaching the woman answering the phones and giving a man some paperwork to fill, I saw Carlisle down the hall with his back to me, talking with two other doctors, a man who looked to be in his early fifties and a blond woman in her early thirties.

Though I could clearly see Carlisle’s wedding band on his finger, that apparently didn’t stop his colleagues from flirting with him, as the woman clearly demonstrated at the moment as she touched his arm in more than just a friendly way while laughing suggestively, her attitude didn’t diminished even as he tried to avoid her playfulness. I strutted to where they were with an energy that would’ve made Rosalie proud, causing people to look at me as my heels hit the tiles.

“Hello, love.” I greeted Carlisle when he tuned to look at me with a stunned expression as I snaked my arm around his waist, before placing a not so innocent kiss on his lips, motivated by a sudden feeling of possession came to me.

“Hi.” He answered composing himself quickly—clearly I had taken him by surprise—before wrapping his arm over my shoulder and bringing me closer to him, causing the woman—Dr. Jessica Stanley, according to her name tag—to momentarily frown like she just sucked on a lemon before forcing a polite smile. “Dr. Williams, Dr. Stanley, this is my beautiful wife.”

“Mrs. Cullen,” Dr. Williams said shaking my hand. “Pleasure to finally meet you, your husband is always talking about you.”

“Please, call me Bella and I hope only good things have come out about me.” I said resting my head on Carlisle’s chest as I slightly tightened my grip on him.

“Of course, Dr. Cullen is always saying such wonderful things about you that I was beginning to think you didn’t exist!” He added with a laugh.

“As you can see, I’m afraid my descriptions don’t make my wife justice.” Carlisle interjected rubbing my arm.

“Well, you know what they say, not everything that glitters is gold, one day the honeymoon phase may pass.” Jessica added with venom in her voice.

“I’m confident that my wife and I will be able to deal with such problems when they arise.”

“Certanly, just look at my wife and me, next month will celebrate our 25th anniversary, you just have to put in the work.” Dr. Williams said with a fatherly smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a surgery to get ready for, Bella, it was nice to meet you, Dr. Cullen, Dr. Stanley, have a nice day.”

“Well, I’m supposed to take my lunch brake in about ten minutes.” Carlisle said looking at his watch. “Care to join me, love?”

“Sure.” I said with a playful smile.

“Let me take you to my office, you can wait there while I check on one more patient. Dr. Stanley, if you’ll excuse us.” Without waiting for a response, Carlisle led me to the end of the hall offering me his arm. As he opened the door for me, I turned to look that Dr. Stanley was still looking our way so as we entered I pulled Carlisle to me with my hand on the back of his neck to kiss him, making sure she could see, happy when Carlisle wrapped his arms around my waist as he answered to my lips.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your day but I Alice told me to bring these papers to you.” I said once we were inside after parting from the kiss as I handed them to him when he sat behind his desk and I took one of the chairs in front of him.

“Yes, actually, I was about to call you about them, thank you.” He answered after getting out of a dazed still a bit flustered.

“No problem.”

“And thank you for interrupting.” He said somewhat sheepishly. “Hopefully undesired advances will stop now that they know you actually exist.” He added with a sad smile, making me confused and a bit... enraged? _Did he wanted to keep getting hit on?_

“I suppose the kids are not the only ones having to deal with unsolicited propositions. Anyways, we are supposed to head for lunch, what are we going to do?”

“Well, I do have to check on a patient but then, would you like to go for a walk? We can pretend to go out for lunch.”

“Sure.” After my answer, he left as I waited on his office for a couple of minutes, leaving me to my thoughts.

As I replayed what had transpired as I arrived to the hospital, I realized I had never felt the urge to show others that Carlisle wasn’t available, time and time again I’ve seen men and women—vampire and human—shamelessly flirt with him, even right in front of me and yet, this time it was different, I was... jealous.

“All done.” His voice called as he enter his office again, marking an end to my train of thought.

Carlisle’s POV

I walked back to my office as Dr. Williams stopped asking about some files, remembering I left them on my office I apologized and offer to call my wife to see if she could bring them.

“Will I finally meet this mystery girl you keep talking about?” He asked amused.

“Why, you think she’s a figment of my imagination?” I asked with a laugh to answer to his lighthearted interest.

“Well, I’ve never seen her even though you don’t hesitate to bring her up when conversations start to stray to more than just friendly small talk between colleagues; although I guess she must be real and just as lovely as you say if you keep refusing all the advances towards you.”

“I can assure you she’s just as real as us and more lovely than I could ever convey with my words. Sometimes I feel that I don’t deserve her, I still can’t believe I got so lucky.”

“Don’t bring yourself down, young man, she probably feels the same way.”

“I doubt it.” I answered avoiding his gaze, my unbeating heart straining with guilt, knowing full well his words that were trying to uplift me were utterly wrong, for I’ve walked the last 70 years and I will walk the rest of my existence knowing I don’t deserve her.

“Dr. Williams, nurse Kathy asked me to remind you that you’re scheduled for a surgery.” Unfortunately, a familiar voice called from behind me.

“Yes, thanks dear, I should be getting ready for it.”

“Carlisle, how are you?” Dr. Stanley asked turning to me placing her hand on my arm.

“I’m fine, Dr. Stanley, thanks for asking.”

“Dr. Stanley, Dr. Cullen here was telling me today is the day we’ll finally get to meet Mrs. Cullen.” Dr. Williams interjected in an attempt to discourage Dr. Stanley from her flirtatious attitude.

“Is that so?” She asked failing to mask the annoyance in her voice

“Yes,” I started answering just as a familiar smell of strawberries, lavender and freesia reached me, a scent that was brought closer to me by the sound of heels hitting the tiles, turning to her as I felt her slender arm around my waist.

“Hello, love.” She greeted me as her lips claimed mine in an action I eagerly return without thinking twice about it.

“Hi.” Was all I managed to say as I tasted her lips for the first time in decades, leaving me in a dazed state for a moment. “Dr. Williams, Dr. Stanley, this is my beautiful wife.” I introduced them after finally composing myself.

“Mrs. Cullen,” Dr. Williams said shaking her hand. “Pleasure to finally meet you, your husband is always talking about you.” He kept talking as I took in the way her plum dress hugged every curve of her body, making her even more delectable, yet I tried to stop my mind from wandering ashamed of my thoughts.

“Please, call me Bella and I hope only good things have come out about me.” She said resting her head on my chest and slightly tightening her grip on me, clearly aware of Dr. Stanley intentions towards me.

“Of course, Dr. Cullen is always saying such wonderful things about you that I was beginning to think you didn’t exist!” He added with a laugh.

“As you can see, I’m afraid my descriptions don’t make my wife justice.” I said softly caressing her arm still marveling at the much missed contact between us.

“Well, you know what they say, not everything that glitters is gold, one day the honeymoon phase may pass.” Dr. Stanley said clearly bugged by the scene in front of her as I hoped she and others finally understood I wasn’t available.

“I’m confident that my wife and I will be able to deal with such problems when they arise.” I answered to her annoying remark, praying to God my words be true, as there was nothing more I could ever wish for than to have a second chance with the beauty in my arms.

“Certainly, just look at my wife and me, next month will celebrate our 25th anniversary, you just have to put in the work. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a surgery to get ready for, Bella, it was nice to meet you, Dr. Cullen, Dr. Stanley, have a nice day.”

“Well, I’m supposed to take my lunch brake in about ten minutes.” I said after registering Dr. Williams had left, making me look at my watch. “Care to join me, love?”

“Sure.” She said making me remember all the times she’d flirted with me throughout our time together.

“Let me take you to my office, you can wait there while I check on one more patient. Dr. Stanley, if you’ll excuse us.” I said not caring about the blond woman as I led us to the end of the hall. I opened the door for her but as I waited for her to enter, I felt her hand snaking around my neck before pulling me to her for our lips to meet once more. Without thinking and before I could stop myself, I had my arms wrapped around her tiny waist as I let her claim me with a kiss, hoping with all I had this wasn’t just for show.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your day but Alice told me to bring these papers to you.” She explained once we were sitting inside my office and as I kept repeating in my mind the kisses and touches we had shared moments before.

“Yes, actually, I was about to call you about them, thank you.” I answered trying to compose myself.

“No problem.” She said nonchalantly, making my fears about our kisses re-emerge.

“And thank you for interrupting.” I added as I thought of her probable uncomfortableness as she played her part. “Hopefully undesired advances will stop now that they know you actually exist.”

“I suppose the kids are not the only ones having to deal with unsolicited propositions.” She added seemingly annoyed. “Anyways, we are supposed to head for lunch, what are we going to do?” She asked as I tried to puzzle out her previous expression.

“Well, I do have to check on a patient but then, would you like to go for a walk? We can pretend to go out for lunch.” I proposed hoping she’d accept as I yearned to spend more time with her.

“Sure.” She accepted with a shrug.

I exited my office as I went to check on my last patient, ignoring the the looks caused by our earlier display of affection, irritated by the bothersome comments that were already circulating all around the floor.

I reached my destination where an elderly woman was in bed resting after being brought for a fall, thankfully there was nothing broken, so with just a sprained wrist, she and her husband where just waiting for the resident to finish bandaging the injury while I signed the necessary paperwork so that they could go back home, happy to be done so quickly, i went back to my office as i kept hearing more and more unsolicited opinions about my wife, ranging from the usual disappointment to the more enraging and rude comments, trying to seem unaffected by the last ones, I walked the hall before opening the door to see her with irritation in her face, as she was able to listen perfectly to everything that was being said about her.

“All done.” I said as I offered my hand to her as support for her to get up for the chair she was occupying, an unneeded act which she took nonetheless.

I took off my lab coat before opening the door to her once more and locking it behind me as we went back out to the hall, once more placing my arm around her as we started making out way to the exit. I tightened my hold on her as I noted the multiple sets of daggers that were thrown at her as we walked out of the ER, which intensified when her own arm was wrapped around my waist accompanied by her looking up at me before she placed a playful kiss on my jaw.

“Everyone seems so welcoming.” She said sarcastically as we reached the parking lot.

“I’m sorry about that.” I apologized. “I’ve been trying to make it stop for weeks, I hope they understand I’m not interested or available now.” I added, watching as her bothered expression turned... relieved?

“Well, where at we going?” She asked distracting me as I tried to understand her previous reaction.

“I was thinking of a walk around the town center, it’s not far away, we can reach it in 5 min if we drive. I assume you drove here?”

“Yes. I brought Rose’s car.”

“Would you allow me to drive you or would you prefer to drive yourself?”

“You drive.” She answered so I led her to my Mercedes that was parked on the doctors’ lot, opening and closing the door for her as she got in before I took the drivers seat.

We reached the little park that marked the center of the town and sat on a bench for there was no reason for us to actually eat anything, and after a couple of moment in uncomfortable silence, she spoke.

“It’s impressive that after months of working in the hospital, they kept hitting on you.” She said not looking at me. “I mean, the kids stopped dealing with the worst of it after a couple of weeks.” She explained seemingly troubled.

“I guess that as people grow up, their inhibitions start to diminish so things like shame and nervousness stop refraining them from acting, not even when the other person tries to stop their behavior over and over again.” I finish with clear annoyance in my tone.

“I take you dislike the attention?”

“Certainly.” I answered making her look relieved, smiling softly as our gazes crossed, making me long for our mutual declarations of love, and I wondered how could I show her she’s all I want.

After a couple of seconds, she looked away and while she stared absentmindedly at the pigeons in silence, I couldn’t help but pay attention to her again. As I admired the way her hair framed her face, a rush of wind reached her, flying strands of it over her face; barely touching her, I tucked a piece of her chocolate waves behind her ear, back to its original place away from her face, letting me see her golden eyes clearly again. “You look specially beautiful today.” The words spilled from my mouth unconsciously, her shyness took over her as she sheepishly thanked me. As I saw the trace of makeup on her face, faking a slight redness on her cheeks, memories of her, human and blushing, came to my mind.

We stayed in that bench for some time until I had about fifteen minutes before I had to return to work, we talked about the kids and her plans of going to college again, neither of us brought up what had happened earlier at the hospital as that easy going atmosphere seemed to disappear from around us, bringing back the awkwardness we had been experiencing since our return to Forks, part of me wanted to tell her how I loved her like I used to do daily, yet, the circumstances where different, we had accepted to go slow, but instead of slow we seemed to not be moving.

As I drove us back to Forks General’s parking lot, I felt confused as the silence caused me to wonder if she regretted the kisses and touches, yet I was too afraid to know the answer if I was to ask her about it. I parked my Mercedes on the same spot it had been previously and went around the car to open the door for her before accompanying her to Rose’s car, noticing the looks she was receivingfrom passersby.

“It seems I’m not the only one that gets attention in the hospital.” I said with an unexpected edge in my voice. She looked up at me with a question in her eyes. “I can see some patients and doctors looking at you with a specific… interest in their gazes.” I added as she got behind the wheel with an expression that denoted the discomfort in response to the attention she was getting. Seeing her reaction, I realized that was what she had seen in me when she entered the hospital earlier, making me understand that her actions where nothing more than a way to help me, trying to stop the unwanted propositions I got everyday.

Trying to ignore the sadness that realization caused in me, I closed the door for her and waited until she was back on the road before I walked into the building. As I entered my office to put on my lab coat again before returning to take care of my patients, I briefly chastised myself pressing my forehead to the wall where my coat had been hanging. I felt frustrated for I didn’t know how to act anymore around the woman I had shared my life for decades, and as the doubt surfaced, I was clouded with self hatred once more. Taking a few breaths, I tried putting those thoughts in the back of my minds as I walked out the door and into the common caos of the ER.


	3. II. Frustrations

Bella’s POV

I arrived home with time before the kids came back, so after parking the BMW back in its place, I went to the library to read to pass the time, yet, uncharacteristically for any vampire, I had to reread the opening paragraph as I just couldn’t manage to concentrate in the text before me. After the third time I closed the book and put it back in its place before sinking back down onto the couch I had been using, I sighted as I closed my eyes, trying to make sense of my thoughts.

It was confusing, I kept going back to when I arrived at the ER and I saw Carlisle being touched by someone else I felt enraged, but I didn’t understand why and the fact that I didn’t even know what we were supposed to be relationship wise was maddening. I had accepted to try again, but where did that leave us, from the beginning—when I was human—we didn’t have a conventional courtship stage, I didn’t know how we where supposed to act now, what was I supposed to do?!

Added to the weird uncertainty and sense of being lost, I was finding myself having reactions I had never had before. I felt self-conscious all the time and unsure of myself, lately I even had been experiencing mood-swings. When I put on the plum dress, after Alice fixed it, I felt good, for a moment I believed the compliments Rose and Alice had given me; paired with the makeup I’d been trying moments before and the heels, I had to be attractive, so why did the mirror wasn’t agreeing? Why was I suddenly feeling the need to use enhancements such as makeup on a daily basis while at the same time feeling helpless when it came to my appearance?

I remembered the moment I got to Forks General and walked into the ER looking for Carlisle, when I saw the blond doctor flirting with him, touching him, it made me feel jealous, something I had never experienced before because… Because I didn’t have a reason to. And as my thoughts kept wandering in that direction, I started feeling my fears getting a hold of me at the same time that the pain returned and I just couldn’t deal with it, even though I kept reassuring Jasper I was feeling fine, I too was afraid to going back to that dark and broken place I had been in for years, so I tried to busy my mind with something else.

* * *

“Do you know what you are going to wear?” Alice asked as they entered the house after they returned from their day at school weeks later. “Dad told you about the Halloween Masquerade Fundraiser in Seattle, didn’t he?” She added sitting next to me as I read on our library.

“No, I haven’t talked to your mother about it.” Carlisle’s voice sounded from the garage as he parked his Mercedes.

“Well, now she knows.” Alice said excitedly.

“And I suppose I’ll say yes.” I stated more as a fact than a question.

“Yep. Now, about the dress…”

“Alice,” Carlisle interrupted reaching the library’s door. “Don’t you think that I should at least tell her about the event before you smother her with questions about her dress?”

“Sorry…” Alice apologized with a pout causing me to chuckle.

“Well, what about this masquerade?”

“I was very emphatically suggested that I should go to a fundraiser for the hospital that will be celebrated on Halloween night in Seattle, I’m supposed to give a small talk in which I explain the need for more funds as some parts of the Hospital are in need of them. Being honest, I though about sending the hospital an anonymous check to cover all the thing we need but my boss really wants us to go, I was going to ask you if you’d come with me, he thinks it gives a good impression if my wife goes with me.”

“Seeing that Alice already saw me agreeing, what’s the dress code?”

“They don’t have anything too specific, I think anything from before the 20th century will work and, obviously, they just asked for everyone to use masks.”

“So… what are you going to use?” Alice chimed in again.

“I don’t know, the event is in two weeks, I have enough time to think about this.”

“But I need to know what you’ll be wearing to match Carlisle’s costume and order your masks…”

“Alice…” Carlisle started with a stern voice.

“Please just pick something!” Said Emmett from the living room. “She had been obnoxiously talking about your possible masks since lunch.”

“Don’t you still have a couple of your old dresses?” Rosalie asked “I remember seeing a red velvet dress, I think that would be perfect for the masquerade.”

“Yes! I just saw it.” Alice said taking me by the hand and dragging me to my closet.

I stood there while she looked through the dressed I kept in the back, taking a big bag, zipping it open to reveal the red dress I had used for my first visit to Volterra.

“Don’t worry about anything, I’ll clean it and make sure you have your masks on time.” She said taking my dress with her and walking out of my room. “I’ll need some references to make Carlisle’s garments and I’ll need to buy some fabrics.” She kept going talking to herself.

“What would we do without Alice.” Said Carlisle humorously from the doorway of my room.

“Live in a peaceful silence.” I answered with a smile on my face.

“I heard that!” Alice’s voice resonated from her room causing both of us to laugh, making us forget the awkwardness that surrounded us every time we were alone together, at least for a moment before he returned his attention to me.

“Are you sure you want to go to the fundraiser? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” He asked me averting my gaze, causing a tightness in my throat as I wondered if this was his way of telling me he would rather go alone.

“Would you rather if I didn’t go?” I finally asked.

“I do! I mean, it’s not that I don’t want you to go, because I do, I would really like you to come with me…” He answered looking at me causing me to relax.

“Well then, I’m going.” I answered firmly.

Just like our favorite pixie had promised, with days to spare before the fundraiser, my dress was in the closet, clean and waiting for me to use it, our masks had arrived and she had finished tailoring Carlisle’s outfit, so we just had to wait for Halloween night to arrive.

The day of the event, Alice and Rose came home as soon as school was finished, both happy to help me get ready, as so, the three of us were in my room, with me sitting in front of my vanity as they decided what to do with my hair and makeup.

“You know, back in the day we didn’t really used makeup unless you wanted to die of mercury poisoning, it wasn’t very appropriate for a lady to do so.”

“We know, but _now_ it's different,” Alice refuted, knowing full well I was just saying that to spite her. “I think you would look amazing with some eyeliner and a bit of blush and a light lip color, you might even look alive!.” She joked making me rolled my eyes.

“And what about the hair?” I asked. “I still remember how my hair was styled the day I used this dress, though we could easily recreate it, looking back at it, all the tight curls and the part in the middle is not such a great idea.”

“I agree.” Said Rose. “I do thinks we should curl your hair but maybe something a bit loose, how about a bun with some pieces of your hair out in soft curls.”

“Yes, that’s perfect!” Alice exclaimed, and just like that they got to work.

After they finished, and as the time for Carlisle and I to leave approached, the girls helped me get into my dress before fixing some minor details. I remembered they day I used this dress, I remember the whole ordeal, aside from my wedding dress, this was the first time I had used something so formal, coupled with the fact that I was supposed to meet the royal family of the vampiric world, to say that I was nervous would’ve been an understatement, yet, I also remember the way I had felt when Carlisle had looked at me.

“There’s something missing.” Alice said taking me out of my memories. “You need accessories.”

“I have just the right thing.” I said as I walked into my closet again, opening the drawers where I kept my jewelry and taking out a black box, opening to reveal the elizabethan necklace the Volturi had sent me centuries ago.

“Wow.” Both of my daughters exclaimed at the sight of the overly conspicuous piece.

“It’s gorgeous.” Rose said.

“It is! Why haven’t we seen it before?” Alice asked.

“Well, obviously it’s a little bit too much for my liking.”

“It really is, how is it that you have it then?”

“It was a wedding gift from The Three Kings, they sent it to us when word of Carlisle getting married reached their ears. In fact, I wore it the time I wore this dress, that’s why I knew I had what was missing.”

“Is there a story to this dress then?” Rose asked.

“Not much, it was the dress I wore the day I met the kings, your father bought it for me in Florence when we decided to accept their invitation to visit Volterra. That dress,” I said pointing to the blue satin garment that was too in a bag to be protected. “Was given to me by Marcus as a farewell gift with another necklace when we decided to come to America.”

“You know, sometimes we forget that you are royal too when you and Carlisle were named part of the Volturi, it’s weird listening to you talk about them so casually.” Rose said.

“We aren’t,” I opposed as I felt weird being perceived as such. “We just help them some times, Carlisle and Aro are good friends.”

“Yes and Marcus basically treats you like his daughter.” Alice reminded us.

“Isabella Volturi.” Rose added with a grin.

“Please don’t say that again.” I asked with a chuckle I couldn’t suppress as both girls laughed too as I fastened the necklace and walked out of my room to the living room were Carlisle was already waiting for me.

Fast behind me came Alice with two masks in her hands for us, while it was clear both were a set due to the usage of the same kind of black lace in them, Carlisle’s had a shape reminiscent of the one from Phantom of the Opera, and while mine was 100% lace and therefore see-through thanks to the crevices of the material, his only had some patches of it embedded in the solid metal that constituted the base.

“We’re leaving now, please don’t destroy the house again.” I called specifically looking at Emmett and Edward after thanking Alice.

“It was one time!” They both said causing for the rest of us to laugh.

“Listen to your mother. Don’t wait up.” Carlisle added with a chuckle before the two of us walked to the car that was already in the drive way.

“Wait,” I said as I was getting into the passenger seat. I ran back to my room as I remembered I didn’t have my wedding ring and the Cullen crest, taking both of them before returning to the car. “I almost forgot these.” I explained as I slipped the ring on my left hand.

“May I?” Carlisle asked as I went to pin the crest on my dress. I accepted and gave him the piece waiting for him to put it on me. I got into the car and he closed the door for me after helping me put all the fabric of my skirt inside the car before getting behind the wheel and driving to Seattle, not as fast as we would usually go caused by the amount of people out for the night.

Why arrived to the luxury hotel in the heart of the city where the fundraiser was being held, Carlisle stoped the car in front the main entrance and got out of the car, he rounded the car and opened the door for me himself before giving the keys to the valet. He offered me his arm and as I took it we walked together inside and towards the salon where the even was taking place.

After walking through the lobby and just as we were reaching our destination, Carlisle put on his mask and I fastened mine as he was giving our invitation to the person in charge. “I haven’t been to an event like this in a while.” I expressed after Carlisle registered his attendance in order to know where our seats were.

“Are you uncomfortable?” He asked with worry on his face and I felt irritation in my as I wondered if he thought the blood was tempting me, hurt as I thought he didn’t trust me.

“No, you know I’m perfectly fine of controlling the thirst.” I answered failing to conceal my exasperation.

“I… I wasn’t thinking of that, I’m sorry. I just remember you don’t really like busy places.” He answered looking to the ground.

“Sorry,” I said feeling guilty. “I shouldn’t have snapped like that.”

“Don’t worry, I understand, I see how Jasper and Rose are always all over you worrying about you, you must feel frustrated by now.”

“I… Yes.” I finally answered feeling ashamed. “I know they mean well but… Sometimes it’s too much.”

As we walked through the room in search of our designated table in silence after out brief conversation, I didn’t stoped a humored huff came out of me as I took in the garments of the people around us, causing Carlisle to look at me confused. “It’s just that I was thinking how wrong most of the dresses in here are, some of them didn’t even try to make it resemble any specific period.”

“Yes, that’s true, though I must asume that never in their wildest dreams would they entertain the thought of having two individual between them who actually lived through those periods.” He agreed with me with lighthearted humor.

“Dr. Cullen, Bella.” A male voiced called from behind us, and we turned to look at Dr. Williams and a woman I presumed to be his wife, both were doing pieces that resembled Rococo fashion.

“Dr, Williams.” Carlisle answered as they shook hands.

“I’m glad you accompanied us tonight.”

“Well, It’s not easy to leave five teenagers alone for the night, specially in All Hollows Eve, let’s just hope we don’t come home to the house burned down to the ground.” Carlisle said looking at me, letting me know he was remembering the time Emmett _actually_ caused the living room to burn down, thankfully most of our personal items were already packed for our move.

“Where are my manners?!” He exclaimed slapping his forehead. “Let me introduce you, Dr. and Mrs. Cullen, my wife Anna.”

“Please call me Bella, this is my husband, Carlisle.”

“Nice to meet you.” She answered with a sincere smile. “I must say, I was admiring your dress since you came in, it seems so authentic.”

“Thank you. It _is_ authentic, it’s been on my family for centuries.” I explained.

“It’s a family heirloom.” Carlisle added with humor.

“Oh my!” Anna exclaimed perplexed. “Do you know the year it was made?”

“You must excuse my wife, she’s a history buff.” Dr. Williams said.

“Don’t worry, I think her enthusiasm is contagious.” I addressed him before answering Anna’s question. “The dress was made in 1841 in Florence, it was a gift to my great, great, great, great, great grandmother from her husband.” I explained, causing an amused smile to appear in Carlisle’s face as I added the last part.

Just then, a man called to our attention asking us to take out seats as the event was going to formally start.

“Where are you seated?” Dr. Williams asked.

“Table 24.”

“Oh, what a shame, we’re on table 27. Well, hopefully we can chat after the formalities. If you’ll excuse us.” He said as he and his wife walked to their table while Carlisle and I sat at ours.

As more people started to walk to their stablished tables, it was clear that the planners had seated people of the same hospitals in the same tables, and as Carlisle was greeted by a couple more people who walked past us to their respective seats, he wondered aloud who would be sharing the table with us.

“Carlisle!” A familiar voice could be heard while we looked around to see who else had come, and though I always tried to be polite to all his colleagues, I couldn’t deny I found Ms. Stanley advances—which hadn’t stopped even after the whole hospital found out Carlisle wasn’t available—extremely annoying, a sentiment mirrored by him as I heard him quietly make a small prayer asking she wasn’t seated with us. 

Sadly, his prayers went unanswered as she took the chair on his other side, causing him to move as far away from her as the table would grant him. As his chair touched mine, he took the opportunity to wrap his arm around my waist. “Ms. Stanley, what an unexpected turn of events, I assume you remember _my_ _wife_ , Bella.” He said pulling me closer to him, to which I answered by resting my head on his shoulder while greeting Jessica.

“Of course, how could I forget.” She said with annoyance in her voice as she glared at me thinking Carlisle wouldn’t notice. “Let me introduce you to my brother, Mike.” She added signaling to the man by her side.

Turning to look at him, as Carlisle intended to shake his hand, I saw his eyes were fixed on me in a not so innocent way, I felt Carlisle tensing and saw his jaw clench while he tightened his grip on me and after an uninterested salutation, he directed my face to his by softly touching my cheek with his fingertips with the intention of placing a kiss on my lips, an interaction that ended being not so subtle as he deepened the kiss for a moment before suddenly pulling away.

“Sorry.” He said low enough so that the word wouldn’t be able to be heard by the humans. Confused, I felt annoyance surge in me as I wondered if his apology was due to regret of kissing me.

Some minutes latter, a man stood in the small stage prepared for the event with a microphone to thank us for our presence as well as some other formalities, as drinks started to circulate for the guests, he introduced the sponsors and organizations that would hopefully donate money to the different hospitals in Washington, then he began calling different speakers that were representing the medical facilities, causing Carlisle to get up when his name was called.

As he stood up to walk to the stage, he placed a soft kiss to my lips to which I responded with a smile and wishing him good luck, perfectly playing our roles as happy married couple. While he spoke, I saw the sponsors being enchanted by his vampiric charm, making it obvious why his boss wanted him to speak instead of other colleagues that had spent more time at Forks General than the mere months our family had been living in Forks.

After the applauses ceased, he walked back to our table and took his place next to me. As he sat down, I received him with another peck on the lips, which was interrupted by Jessica’s voice who kept placing her hand on his arm trying to pass it as innocent touches.

About an hour later, as the last of the speakers finished her speech, the dinning part of the evening was announced, causing us to excuse ourselves from the table with the pretense of being vegan as we didn’t want to deal with regurgitating the food later. We walked out of the salón and into an adjacent garden, where we sat on a bench near a fountain.

Carlisle’s POV

We waited in the garden for a while the food was being served, uncomfortable silences fell between us, and as I searched for meaningless topics to fill the atmosphere around us, I felt wrong-footed as we’ve never experienced awkward stillness before, I mean, for goodness sake, I didn’t even know how to call her! All my life since I met her I referred to her as _Isabella_ , and I loved being the only one to whom she let use her full name but now it felt wrong, like I had lost that privilege, yet _Bella_ felt unnatural. At the same time, I sometimes asked myself what were we? Friends? A couple?

“I think people are finished eating, should we go back inside?” She asked bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Sure.” I answered wanting up and offering her my arm.

We reached our seats and not long after, the host went to the stage once more to thank everyone for going and to all the people who had already done donations throughout the night before asking us to enjoy the rest of the night which would be made more enjoyable by the live band that was getting ready to start playing and the bartenders. Just as music started to play, couples began filling the dance floor moving to the rhythm of the songs.

“May I have this dance?” I asked Bella as a ballad I recognized started. She smiled and took the hand I was offering her, letting me lead her to the dance floor.

When we reached the dance floor, I lifted her hand I was already holding as I softly placed the other on her corseted waist and as I pulled her a bit closer to me, I couldn’t help but remember the first time she had worn this dress, just as I couldn’t deny how much I wanted her at this moment just like I had wanted her all those years ago.

I remember the day we arrived back to Forks, when we went for a walked as the kids went into town, we had talked and she said she did want to give ourselves another chance and as happy as I was, I didn’t know what to do, I was at a lost in relation to how to go on. Yes, she had accepted to try again but she also admitted she needed time, she needed to go slow, making me afraid of pushing her away if I said or did something wrong.

Though—unlike our children—we always tried not to out-dance the couples surrounding us, it was inevitable to move with natural grace as we danced, which resulted in us having the center of the dance floor to ourselves while the people who had been doing the same became expectations as I expertly spun Bella in perfect synchrony with the music.

“You are so beautiful.” I finally said looking into her golden eyes, not being able to keep my thoughts to myself, and just as I saw a small smile curving her lips, I felt the need to kiss her. Though we had kissed before in the last months, those kissed had been more a part of our façade but this one was different, not because we needed to reaffirm our cover story or because I wanted to discourage romantic advances, this time I wanted to kiss her just because; yet I didn’t know if she would allow me to, so I finally settled for a kiss on her cheek just as the song was ending.

I pulled away and a sharp tug was born on my chest as I saw her smile was gone and it had been replaced by a furrow in her brows before pulling away from me, not with enough determination for the humans to notice the change in her attitude but enough for me to see.

For a while we sat back at our table—which was thankfully empty as Dr. Stanley and her brother seemed to be talking with other people—, with her just watching the scene around us and me staring at her, looking for any other signs of her discomfort, wondering if I should offer we leave early. Just as I thought that would be a good course of action, I saw Dr. Williams walking to our table as his wife walked to the garden answering her phone.

“Do you mind conceding me this dance?” he asked Bella who nodded with a polite smile, standing up.

I sat watching them dance when I felt Dr. Stanley approaching, once more placing her hand on my arm as she sat by my side trying to engage me in conversation at the same time that she obviously tried to flirt with me, and though I was used to her behavior at the hospital, the fact that there had been alcohol involved through the night, made her attempts more blunt.

“I thought I wouldn’t see you alone tonight.” She said at some point pressing herself against me, causing me to move away as I tried to ignore her.

“Well, I came her with my wife and I like spending my time with her.”

“Right now she isn’t here, how about you dance with me?” She asked and tried to run her fingers through my hair, causing me to get up.

I walked trough the tables to stand next to the doors to the garden, hoping Dr. Stanley wouldn’t follow, jet, once more my prayers went unanswered as she was right on my heels, making me sight in exasperation.

“Oh come on, I promise you’ll have fun, If you don’t wanna dance, I can show you a good time some other way.” She said as she moved her hands towards the waistband of my pants.

I grabbed her hands and pushed them away trying to keep my frustration under control “Dr. Stanley, though I have tried to deny your advances before with as much tact as posible, you continue with them even when you know I’m happily married, I haven’t said anything as I tried to be respectful but now I must bluntly ask you to stop for I don’t see you behavior as anything more than extremely inappropriate. Have a good night.” I finally said not being able to take her actions anymore before walking away somewhere with less people as I calmed myself down.

“Dr. Cullen,” Anna’s voice called. “Is everything alright?” She asked with genuine concern.

“Yes, of course, the party was just being a little too much.” I lied, though her face told me she didn’t believed me.

“I heard you little… discussion with Dr. Stanley.” She said. “I’ve heard about the situation becase my husband mentioned one time your reluctance to work with her, though I must admit I didn’t expect something so… direct.”

“I’ve heard people usually blame alcohol for their actions.” I offered to which she laughed.

“Yes, well, I can’t say I understand your position but I can say it’s a good thing you put an end to her behavior, sometimes people like her need to be told directly.”

“I suppose, my wife says that sometimes I’m too nice for my own good, I guess this was one of those occasions.”

“She’s a wise, young, beautiful lady.”

“Yes, she is, I’m extremely lucky to have her.”

“You both are lucky to have each other.” She offered back but uncertainty clouded my mind as I once more remembered the pain I had caused her, something that apparently didn’t go unnoticed by Mrs. Williams.

“Uh uh, I suspect there’s a problem?”

“Well… yes.” I answered after sighing, feeling some sort of confort as I spoke with a third party, even if I couldn’t tell her much. “We’ve been having some problems lately. I love her so much but I’m afraid I’m not good enough for her.”

“Nonsense, I may not really know you but I can see you’re a good man.”

“I just… I just want to make her happy.”

“And what’s stopping you? You say you love her, you’re about halfway there then.”

“And how do I go through the other half?” I asked more to vent my frustrations of not knowing how to act around Bella anymore than to receive an answer from Anna.

“Sometimes, when we spend a lot of time with someone we tend to think we know that person like the back of our hand but at times that sense of security blinds us from seeing little new things about that person, so maybe you should take a step back and ask yourself what does your wife needs or wants.”

I stood there for a moment carefully considering her words before her voice took me out of my thoughts trying to lighten up the mood.

“Now, tonight was supposed to be a party and as I see my husband still dancing with you wife, how about we join in on the fun?”

“I’ll be more than happy to.” I said offering my arm to lead her to the dance floor.

After sharing a couple of songs with Anna, Dr. Williams came to ask his wife to dance the next song with him, leaving me looking for Bella around the room, feeling the same possessiveness I felt before when I saw the way Mike was looking at her, as she was once again seating at our table with him mirroring the attitude of his sister. Quickly I walked back to our table, calling to her from behind him, clearly taking him by surprise, causing him to back off and walk away. 

“I guess the annoyance runs in the family.” She remarked. “Though I think his sister still takes the prize.” She added looking at me before continuing. “I saw the way she approached you.”

“Yeah… To say that was uncomfortable would be an understatement. I hate when things escalate like this.”

“Well, at least you probably won’t be dealing with her anymore.”

“Lets hope so.” I said while watching the people dancing in the middle of the room. “Would you concede me another dance?” I asked her getting up and taking her hand as she nodded to lead her to the dance floor.

When people started to leave, we decided lo do the same, so we went looking for Dr. Williams and Anna to say our goodbyes, as they where still dancing and mingling with other attendants and intended to stay until the end of the even for they would be spending the night in Seattle.

While walking out of the salón the fundraiser had been held, I once more took Bella’s hand and wrapped her arm around mine as we crossed the lobby and reached the main entrance to the valets to ask for my car back. After a couple of minutes my Mercedes was in front of me and I reached for the passenger door thanking the man for his services and telling him I would take it from here as I opened and closed the door for Bella before walking to the driver’s side.

Once in the car, we both took off our masks, she took mine and placed them on the back seat before putting on her seatbelt; with that, I started the engine and began the drive back to Forks.

“Is everything all right?” I asked concerned when I saw her fidgeting in her seat as we neared the house.

“It’s probably nothing but I just have this weird feeling that something bad happened.” She said just as we were on hearing distance from the kids.

“I told you it was a bad idea! Bella and Carlisle are going to kill us!” Alice said.

“Shut up! We need to fix this before they arrive.” Emmett added, non of them hearing us, probably because they were so busy trying to fix whatever they had done.

“I wondered what did they do this time.” I asked after we both sighed.


	4. III. Hurt

Carlisle’s POV

As November passed and the weather transformed the raindrops into ice on the streets, more and more people filled the ER, ranging from the usual person who slipped walking down the street to the car accidents, though as Christmas approached, not even the daily dose of emergencies from Forks General seemed to bring the spirit down from the nurses, doctor nor patients.

As such, some of the older nurses and a couple of social workers proposed the formation of a group of people dedicated to knit sets of scarves, hats and gloves for people in need, mainly for the shelters but also for anyone who arrived at the hospital and that was in need of such aid. Though Alice and Bella regularly made generous donations of clothes and other necessities to shelters, both of them along with Rose thought it was a nice idea and with the help of the girls, the initial group that consisted of about six persons, it now held about thirty individuals, most of which were other high schoolers, the girls even managed to get Jasper and Edward to help, and though to his credit Emmett did tried, he didn’t have the patience or self control to do these kinds of tasks as he had gone through several knitting needles and crochet hooks in the first day.

Given that several of the young people didn’t know how to knit, the nurses proposed to separation of the group, in one would be the people who already knew how to do the pieces they where collecting, while the second would have a teacher that would be leading the others through the creating of the knitted goods.

“Girls, what are you doing here?” I asked one afternoon as I saw Rose and Alice walking into the ER to one of the two empty rooms the knitting groups were going to use. They each had a big box filled with different colors of yarn.

“We decided to help so we went to Seattle to buy some yarns, needles and hooks for everyone to use.” Alice answered.

“That’s so nice of you. Are you going to be knitting too?”

“Yes, but we’ll do it from home, I persuaded the boys to help but they thought it was better if we avoided the hospital, even though we won’t be directly in the ER, we rather not take any chances, though Rose might be here helping Bella.”

“Bella?” I asked.

“Yes, she offered to teach the group who doesn’t know how to knit.” Rosalie answered. “She asked me to help her as she will be teaching a group of about twenty persons.”

“I never pictured you as the crafty kind, Rose.” I said surprised.

“I’m not but Bella asked for help and Alice doesn’t fell comfortable being here for long periods of time.

“You should help too.” Alice interjected looking at me.

“I don’t know the first thing about any of this, besides I would like to remind you that I work here.”

“Yes, but you have your lunch hour, it’s not like you use it for eating, besides didn’t you pay attention? Bella will be spending time at the hospital teaching how to knit, or you could ask her at home.”

“We’ll see.” I simply answered.

“Well, in the meantime, Bella will be here around 3:30, she’ll be bringing a third box.” She said adding a wink at the end before the unfocused look in her eyes that signaled a vision came onto her. “Anyway, we should get going a very bloody patient will be arriving in about five minutes and I rather not be here. Bye dad.” She said before placing a kiss on my cheeks and skipping out of the ER, living Rose behind.

“I’m the one driving, she needs to wait for me.” My blond daughter said as we both saw Alice leaving. “I’ll probably be back later, though I haven’t asked mom if she wants my help today.” She explained turning to look at me. “Bye dad, see you later.” She said before going after her sister.

After both of my daughters left I walked into my office and sat behind the desk with the intention of working in a couple of mediated records I needed to finish, yet I couldn’t help but wonder the possibility of joining the knitting classes as it would mean I could spend more time with Bella but at the same time, I wondered if my action would be well received and I asked myself if she would be annoyed at my constant presence.

While I kept half my attention going through the paperwork I needed to complete while the other half pondered on the idea of learning how to knit, the clock on my office’s wall marked 3:20 and I remembered Alice telling me their mother would be arriving at 3:30 so I left my office and walked through the corridor into the ER to check on a couple of patients while I waited for Bella.Just like Alice had predicted, I saw Bella’s car getting into the parking lot a couple of seconds after the clock marked three and a half. I walked out of the hospital to greet her—consciously trying to seem casual about it—while she got out of her car and retrieved a big box full of knitting supplies.

“Let me help you with that.” I said taking the box from her hands.

“Oh, um, thanks.” She simply answered.

“I’m always happy to help.” I said as I waited for her to lock the car before we walked into the building together.

“How’s been your day?” She asked. “I didn’t expect you to be on your brake right now.”

“I’m not but it’s been a slow day, just a couple of minor accidents, in fact, I even doing paperwork must of the day. How was your day?”

“Fine, I had to go to Seattle to pick some more materials. Though I’m pretty sure Rose and Alice bought more than enough, when I arrived at the craft store, the knitting and crocheting section was almost empty.” She recounted as we passed the lobby of the ER and into the hallway.

“Yes, I saw them earlier; they told me you would be coming here, I didn’t know you’d be teaching people how to knit.”

“Yes, I am, I didn’t think you’d be interested, that’s why I didn’t tell you.” She said nonchalantly making me feel a small sharp pain as she implied I wouldn’t care.

“Well, I know you like knitting and that you’ve been getting bored at home while you wait for the spring semester to start at college, as well as the fact that you like helping people, so I’m happy you have something to occupy you time and brings you joy. And you know, I was actually thinking of joining your class.” I explained as we reached the room she’d be using and setting the box on the ground.

“Really?” She asked surprised as she sat on one of the chairs the hospital had provided.

“Of course, because, you know, I actually like your company.” I blurted out, only realizing my words after they’d left my mouth. “Besides, I’d like to help too but I don’t have the faintest idea on how to do any of this.” I quickly added trying to move past what I’d implied before.

“Well, we _do_ live together, though I understand it might not seem like it since, _you know_ , you spend most of your time at the hospital.” She snapped clearly upset by my words.

“Bella, I...”

“You know what, maybe it’s not the best idea for you to come to the knitting classes.” She said before storming out of the room, leaving me to contemplate my stupidity.

Knowing she would be heading back at some point, I left the room and walked back to my office to finish the papers I was working on before doing another round checking on the patients, all the while I was cursing myself for the words I had spoken to her.

As I walked back and forth between my office and the ER, I stopped a couple of times outside the room where Bella was teaching a bunch of young people how to create the intended garments, looking through the wide open door as she interacted with them while blatantly ignoring me.

Hours later when my shift finally ended, I walked out of my office after taking off my white lab coat and once more walked through the corridor into the lobby of the ER, passing again the now empty room where everyone had been knitting until about and hour ago.

“Dr. Cullen, thank god you’re still here.” A nurse said approaching me. “Dr. Gutierrez called in to say she won’t be able to come in tonight, so you think you can cover for her? I know it’s last minute but you always seem to be available.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t, I have plans tonight. Have you asked someone else?”

“No, I figured you’d be able to cover for her but I’ll go call to see who can come.”

I waited for the nurse to reach someone to fill Dr. Gutierrez’s spot, offering to stay for a couple of hours more until the replacement came so to not leave the ER understaffed.

I arrived home sometime after 9pm to see all the kids at home passing the time with their various activities, all except for Rosalie who was waiting for me in the garage clearly annoyed and judging for her demeanor, I didn’t have to be Edward to know her anger was directed at me. I killed the engine after parking and sighed before exiting the car.

“Let’s take a walk.” She said leaving no room for a denial.

Without entering the house, we went to the back and into the woods, in silence we walked a couple of miles away from everyone, clearly not wanting to be heard, finally, we stopped at a small clearing and as she seemed to wonder how to begin, I sat on a fallen tree trunk.

“Where’s your mother?” I asked as she still looked unsure about how to approach what she wanted to say.

“She went hunting after she arrived.”

“Alone?” I asked surprised as she usually hunted with someone else.”

“We all offered to go with her but she said she wanted to be on her own.” She explained before silence fell between us again. “Alice told me what happened in the hospital.” She finally said. Without anything to add I just sighed once more. “Dad... Look, I’m trying to be understanding here, I get that both Bella and you aren’t the best at communicating sometimes, but you should know better than how you reacted in the hospital, you spent almost two hundred years together!

“Alice doesn’t know the exact words you two said to each other but I saw she was upset when she came home.”

“I... I implied she didn’t care about my company.” I admitted

“Oh my God, Carlisle, sometimes you can be as dense as your sons! Do you really think Bella would’ve accepted to come with all of us to Forks if she didn’t want your company? I understand that she’s been acting weird, and for the record, so have you, but what do you expect! Look, I hope I won’t have to tell you this again but she still loves you and clearly you still love her, just get your act together!”

Just as Rosalie was talking, we heard someone else approaching in a hurry, finally, Alice broke through the foliage and ran to us.

“We need to find Bella!” She said clearly worried and without thinking we started running tracking her scent.

“What did you see?” Asked Rose.

“Nothing, that’s the problem, she just disappeared!” Her sister explained clearly trying not to panic.

We ended up separating to cover more ground as Bella’s scent was all over the place. As Alice bolted to find us the moment Bella disappeared from her visions, the boys were still at home not knowing what was going on so I took out my phone and dialed Edward who picked up almost immediately.

“Hey, where did you guys went off to? Alice just ran off, I didn’t see anything in her head aside of the idea to find you...”

“Get your brothers, Bella vanished from Alice’s visions, we’re trying to find her.” I interrupted, hanging up not waiting for a reply. Just as I was putting my phone back in my pocket, I heard a howl in the distance, following the sound, I changed my course.

“CARLISLE!” I heard Isabella’s scream coming from the same direction, her fear making me push myself as fast as I could go.

I arrived to another clearing near a small cliff where I saw Isabella pinned to the ground by a wolf about to attack her, without thinking I launched myself tackling him away from her before running back to her side and crouching in front of her in a protective stance, growls coming out of me instinctively as the wolf stood up and started to approach us again. Just then I heard two of our kids reaching the clearing, Edward and Rose, who stood in front of us as I cradled their mother in my arms looking at her injuries.

Just as the wolf was about to jump at us, we heard another growl coming from behind him, apparently the Alfa of the pack had stopped him as he stood in place while two other wolves appeared, after some time, one of the wolves left taking the one who had attacked us with him, leaving the one who appeared to be the Alfa.

“Edward.” I called to him implicitly asking him to translate for us as the wolves usually avoid appearing in their human forms in front of us.

“She asks for our forgiveness, she says the wolf who attacked Isabella acted on impulse and didn’t know of the treaty yet as apparently he had just phased a couple of hours ago.”

“I don’t care if it was an accident, he was way outside of your territory.”

“Once again she asks for forgiveness and takes full responsibility for his actions, she is afraid you’re planning to ask for retribution.”

I sighed trying to calm myself down, looking back at Isabella I saw how much damaged was done to her, just wanting to get home to fix her I tried to end this matter as fast as possible.

“No, I’m not, I’m not a vengeful man but I do ask you to remind your pack of their side of the treaty, even though we’re not planning on acting on it,” making it clear neither me or the kids would attack them; “although it’s not in our nature to forget things, now if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to take my wife home.” The wolf bowed her head and without anything more, ran in the direction the other two had gone.

Not waiting for the kids, I started running back to the house with Isabella in my arms, who appeared to be in a coma-like state as her injuries were taking a toll on her.

“Why aren’t her wounds healing?” Rose asked in panic.

“Wounds caused by wolves are different, they won’t heal on their own as the wolves’ saliva prevent our bodies from it, it’s not venomous to us as we are to them but I’ll need venom to seal them.” I explained trying to calm Rose as well as to keep myself focus, preventing me from turning back and attack the pack.

As I ran, I heard our kids joining behind us and heard Emmett and Jasper growl as they saw their mother’s injuries, knowing Emmett’s impulsive nature and Jasper’s need to protect everyone in our family, I immediately put a stop to the thoughts that were probably running through their heads.

“We’re not attacking the wolves.” I said with the authority of the coven leader I didn’t use often.

“They hurt our mother!” Emmett snapped back.

“What I said is final!” I ordered leaving no room for discussion just as we arrived home. Stopping to look back at them I saw all the kids had their head bowed down, with no other option but to accept my decision. “Now, I’ll be tending to Isabella, Rose, Alice, Emmett, she’ll need blood, take the thermoses we have and fill them, preferably with carnivores’ blood.” They nodded before sprinting into the kitchen and leaving for the woods once again with metal containers in their hands. “Jasper, can you feel something in her?” I asked already running up the stairs to her room before laying her in her bed.

“No, she seems to be numb.” I nodded to signal I had heard him.

“I’d like to be left alone with her.” I said once again indicating with my voice there would be no discussion in the matter as I felt my possessiveness take over me, hand in hand with my need to take care of Isabella. “When your siblings come back with the blood, have one of the girls bring it to me.” They nodded before leaving, closing the door behind them.

As I examined the extent of her injuries, I started to remove what remained of her clothes as the wolf’s attack had torn most of it. The worst injury—and therefore the one I needed to seal first—was the one on her shoulder and into her neck, where she had been bitten. Moving her hair out of the way, I bent down and licked the marks on her skin until enough venom was poured into them, relief washed over me as they started to close. I proceeded with the cut on her cheek doing the same before repeating the process on her wounded arm; I then went lower on her body to the three gashes on her abdomen, though they weren’t as deep as the one on her neck, they took some time until I saw them start to seal, finally I removed her jeans and licked her final injury on her right thigh.

After covering her wounds with my venom I stood up and went to the bathroom to fill the bathtub with water to clean Isabella. When the bath was ready I went back for her, removing her undergarments before placing her in the water. Carefully I cleaned her body of the dirt and mud that covered her skin as well as her hair before draining the tub and wrapping her in a towel and taking her back to the bed.

I looked through her closet before finding some comfortable shorts and a tank top to dress her, pieces that would let me monitor the healing of her injuries. As I waited, I dried her hair before brushing it, stoping to lick her deeper wounds once more when I saw they weren’t closing as fast as they had been. At some point I just sat by her side looking at her and as I didn’t have anything else to occupy myself with, my thoughts started to get the better of me.

I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the intense amount of guilt I felt as I saw Isabella battered and unresponsive at my side. Wrapping my arms around her once more, I pulled her close to me and nuzzled my nose into her hair as I quietly sobbed without tears while I apologized over and over again.

A knock at the door distracted me and I saw Rose coming in with four thermoses in her arms, she put them on the nightstand beside and looked at Bella in my arms.

“She’s going to be ok, dad.” She said with empathy in her voice.

“It’s my fault, she was hunting alone because of me.”

“You know she wouldn’t agree with you.” She contradicted trying to make me feel better.

After I didn’t say anything else, Rose left the room leaving me alone with Isabella who I kept in my arms, repeating the process of coating the wounds with venom as many times as it was necessary until her skin was only marked by thin lines where the deeper cuts were, lines that would accompany her for eternity, reminding me of the second time I had failed her.

At some point of the night I felt her shift a little while a small whimper came out of her, yet she still wasn’t opening her eyes, so I just held her tighter as my apologies kept coming out of my mouth. As the whimpers kept on going, I carefully opened one of the thermos and put it to her lips and when the smell of blood reached her nose I saw her hands trying to reach for it, yet she was too weak to move so I slowly tilted the container letting the blood flow into her mouth. Like that, she finished half the blood the kids had brought until her whimpers stopped, returning to her unmoving state.

“Dad, it’s almost time for your shift at work.” Alice’s voice called at some point, causing me to look at the window to see the sun coming out.

“I can’t leave her.” I simply said causing her to nod.

“I’ll call saying there was an emergency. We’ll leave for school in a couple of hours, unless you’d like for us to stay.”

“It’s ok, there’s no point in all of you to stay here doing nothing, you can kill time at school.”

“Ok, I’ll go make the call for you.”

“Thank you.”

Just as she said, at some point I heard two of the cars drive away, leaving me alone with Isabella in the house. For the next couple of hours I laid by her side, waiting for her to wake up, running my fingers through her hair every once in a while as I kept murmuring apologies intercalated with prayers for her to get better soon.

At some point near midday, I felt two individuals approaching the house, so, unwillingly, I left Isabella’s side to check who could it be. As I neared the front door and opened it, I saw a woman and young man walking up the stairs, their smell let me know who they were, yet, I was surprised to recognize one of them.

“Leah.” I called.

“Dr. Cullen, I came here to ask about your wife’s well-being.” She answered with sincerity before looking to the boy at her side. “This is Zach, he’s here to formally apologize for his... behavior last night.” She explained as the boy looked at the ground, her words letting me know he was the one who attacked Isabella, causing an involuntary growl out of me that made the boy start to shake.

Trying my best to remain in calm, as I didn’t need him to phase again and start another attack, I inhaled deeply before exhaling. “Isabella is still recovering and though I appreciate the sentiment, I think you’ll understand if I ask you to leave as I don’t feel comfortable having the boy here with my wife still unconscious.” I said with gritted teeth.

Leah nodded before leaving with the boy, letting me go back to Isabella’s side.

After a couple of hours, she started to whimper again, so I repeated my previous actions and slowly fed her the two remaining thermoses, hoping the kids would return before their mother needed more blood. Thankfully, they came back as soon as their classes ended and without me needing to say anything, Alice came into the room to retrieve the metal containers.

“Jasper and I are going to go refill them.”

“Thank you.” I said before she turned around in the direction of the door. “Wait, was there a knitting class scheduled for today? If so, can you ask Edward to call the hospital to explain Isabella won’t be able to go.”

“Don’t worry about it, Rosalie is going to go cover for her.” With that she left and once more I found myself laying by her side softly tracing the slight scar that was formed on her shoulder as I kept waiting for her to wake up.

I heard a pair of footsteps getting close to her room which ended before one of the boys knocked, I laid Isabella under the covers before calling to let them know they could come in, their worry clear on their faces as they saw their mother still unconscious.

“Is she going to be ok?” Emmett asked breaking the silence, to which I just nodded, and as I met his gaze I wondered how much this was affecting me as he asked me how long ago I had hunted.

“I’m fine, I don’t need to feed right know.”

“Dad, you eyes are dark brown, you should go hunting, Edward and I will be here, we can take care of mom.” He proposed taking a step towards the bed.

“Emmett, don’t.” Edward called to stop him as I growled. “Bella is hurt, Carlisle’s instincts won’t let us get close to her.” With that, Emmett retreated, both of them looking at her for a little longer before exiting the room as Alice walked in with the new supply of blood, leaving it on the same nightstand.

Once more I repeated the process of feeding her as her soft cries could be heard again and until they stop, a sound that reignited my guilt. I placed a kiss on her head as the time kept passing, counting the hours until she would wake up again.

At some point in the night, when almost 24 hours had passed since she was attacked, I felt her move, turning to hide her face in my neck, breathing my scent before she spoke with a groggy voice, causing a wave of relief wash over me.

“It wasn’t your fault.” She said weakly.

“You were hearing what I said?”

“No, but I know you, I know you’d convince yourself the attack was your fault, it wasn’t.”

“How can you say that, if I hadn’t acted the way I did at the hospital you wouldn’t have gone hunting alone. Isabella, I almost didn’t get to you in time, they asked me last night to cover for another doctor and if I had accepted as I usually do, I could’ve lost you forever...”

“It could’ve happened to any of us.”

“But it happened to you and it was my fault. Isabella, I’m sorry, I don’t think I can apologize enough, I feel ashamed for my behavior at the hospital, it was childish and petty and I should’ve apologized before...”

“Carlisle, please stop, I accept your apologies though I must also apologize as the way I answered wasn’t correct either.”

“You had every right to be mad at me.”

“That doesn’t make the way I acted ok, we should be able to talk about things and we haven’t done it in the time we’ve been back together. Now, I know we need to keep talking about this but I think I’m in need of blood right now. How long was I out?”

“There’s some in these two thermoses. You where attacked about 24 hours ago.” I said giving them to her and waiting as she drank them in a matter of seconds. “Do you need more?” She nodded. “Let’s go hunting.”

I stood up waiting for her and though she had had some blood, the toll the healing had taken on her body had surpassed whatever energy her intake had provided, leaving her weak, clearly unable to run on her on.

“Would you allow me to carry you?” I asked knowing she wouldn’t be able to hunt otherwise yet wanting her permission to proceed, thankfully she nodded, so I took her in my arms bridal style before leaving her room through her window.

I ran deep into the woods searching for something to drink from and though I would’ve preferred for her to drink from carnivores. I only detected a herd of deers. Slowly and as quietly as I could, I sat her on a nearby rock before I jumped to tackle one of the biggest herbivores of the group. Avoiding using my teeth I just knocked the animal out and dragged it to her feet so that she could bit into its neck. I repeated the process for a second time until she was strong enough to take down her third prey on her own.

“You should drink too.” She told me.

“I’m ok.”

“No, you’re not, I can see you eyes.”

“I don’t want leave you alone.”

“I’ll be ok, look, I’ll wait for you here.” She said with a soft smile sitting down and knowing she wouldn’t change her mind I reluctantly left looking for something for myself.

After I fed, I ran back to where I had left her, relieved to see she was unharmed and still sitting on the same spot. She turned to look at me as she sensed my presence and I couldn’t help but smile as I approached her.

“The kids were really worried about you too.” I said breaking the ice sitting at her side.

“I’m sorry I had everyone concerned over me.”

“They all love you, it’s only natural... Just as I was...” I answered, unsure on how to proceed.

“Carlisle...” She said finally ending the silence. “We both acted immaturely yesterday at the hospital and I think we can both agree that we haven’t been communicating the way we should be. When I accepted to live with you again and to give us a second chance I was being honest but...” She said before ending in a silence as she gather her thoughts, making the fear of loosing her forever resurge in my heart as I prepared for her admitting she couldn’t do it. “I just don’t know how to go about things, I still want to try, I really do but I don’t know what to do, how to act, it all feels weird and though I hate the uncomfortable feeling I get, I don’t know how to make it go away.”

I waited for a moment to see if she was going to add something more but as she didn’t, I took her silence as my cue. “I can’t begin to express how happy it makes me to hear you say you’re willing to give me another chance and after yesterday’s events I see I have made important mistakes regarding our situation. You are right, I haven’t made effort to spend time with you and though it isn’t an excuse, I’d like to say that I too have found myself lost on how to proceed and although I still don’t have an answer I want to change things, I want to be with you.”

Suddenly, she rested her head on my shoulder and I realized this was the first time we touched each other out of freewill and not forced by the situation, making me aware of how badly I missed feeling her next to me.


	5. IV. The Festival

Carlisle’s POV

We both took the next day off as she kept gaining strength back and though she kept telling me I was exaggerating and that she was perfectly fine, I didn’t want to take any chances, so after we went back and hugged each and every one of our kids, I asked her to rest the remaining of the night. Rose and Edward never left her side as they waited for the morning to come and until they had to leave for school.

As the kids kept their mother entertained, I retreated to my office to work on some documents I hadn’t had a chance to finish due to what had happened, yet I couldn’t help but check on Bella constantly, knowing full well my behavior was being fueled by the instinctive possessiveness that comes over us when our partner is hurt. Thankfully all the kids understood and left me alone with her whenever I stepped into her room.

On the third day after the attack I finally went back to work, mostly because Bella kept insisting she was fine and that she herself would be going back to teaching how to knit that day, so after much nudging from her I finally went to the hospital and resumed my routine.

With Christmas fast approaching, the little town of Forks was seeing more movement, people where rushing to Port Angels and Seattle in search for presents, other where decorating the streets and in the hospital, the knitting groups had managed to make an impressive amount of sets, all of which contained matching mittens, beanies and scarves; that amount though, was small compared to the one the kids had achieved thanks to their vampiric speed, and as I finished my shift for the day, while I waited for Bella to finish the last day of the knitting groups, I remembered fondly the scene I arrived to the night before.

I remember all the kids seating in the living room surrounded by mountains of yarn and finished products, both Alice and Rose were chatting with each other as the first one leaned on Jasper’s side, who at the same time was trying to beat Edward to who could finish the mittens first. Most surprising was Emmett who, after controlling his impatience, realized he really liked knitting though apparently, he realized he preferred crocheting.

Though we didn’t feel the cold of winter in Forks, the fire was lit as it gave us the homey feeling we used to have as humans, completing the scene with its warm light. Not being able to resist, I took my phone out and snapped a couple of pictures before the kids could protest.

“They look adorable don’t they?” Bella had asked walking into the living room with a couple of unfolded boxes, standing by my side and looking at the kids too. “How was your day?”

“Fine, a little slow, thought working in the ER I take that as a good thing.” I said before turning to look at her.“Do you want some help?” I asked signaling to the boxes.

“It’s not necessary, I just need to pack up the sets they knitted.”

“Please, I like being useful.” I said with a smile.

“Fine, go leave your things in your office and come back.”

I did as I was told, returning with packing tape and scissors. Together we built the boxes and started filling them with all the colorful garments, though as we where using the last two boxes of the six we had, we realized we would need more; looking at the clock I saw I had just about enough time to go to the supermarket in town to get a couple more, so after asking if there was something else we needed, I got into my car and drove to the store.

The rest of the night as I returned home was spent in a similar way, the kids finished using all the yarn they had left and their mother and I finished packing them up.

“What’s going to happen with all these boxes?” I asked.

“Well, we decided to leave one of the them at the hospital there on the ER in case people in town need clothes, the others will be distributed to the different shelters in Port Angels and Seattle, I volunteered to drop them off on Wednesday as we still have one more knitting session tomorrow.”

“Do you have to go on Wednesday? I don’t have a shift on Thursday, we could go together, that’s if you don’t mind my company...” I asked sheepishly.

“I’d like that.”

As agreed, on Thursday we took Emmett’s Jeep—as it could hold more boxes than my Mercedes—just as the kids left for school; we packed as many boxes as we could, though it was clear we would be doing more than a couple of trips to deliver the 10 boxes we had at home and the three we would be picking up at the hospital, so without further ado, we got in and drove to Port Angels.

After we finished dropping the first five boxes, I drove us back to Forks to pick up the next five, this time driving all the way to Seattle to repeat the process, and even though we took half the time driving as it would’ve taken us if I had driven respecting the speed limit, we weren’t able to deliver the three remaining packages.

“Are you going to come back to Seattle tomorrow?” I asked after we left the last box while we walked back to the car.

“Yes, besides, I’d like to finish Christmas shopping.”

“I thought you, Alice and Rose were waiting for the weekend to do so.”

“No, Alice is waiting for the weekend with us.” She said with humor as to imply something. “Don’t you know your daughter? Her shopping will basically be her forcing us to try on dozens of dresses for Christmas, even though she could just buy us the ones she has probably already seen us wearing; there won’t be time for us to look for gifts.” She further explained what I didn’t grasped before, causing me to laugh at the truth of her statement.

“Give her a break, she gets very exited around this time of the year.”

“She’s always exited! This is why I have to be the mean one, you’re too lenient with her, with all of them actually.” She said shaking her head. “What?” She asked as I looked at her with a smile on my face.

“Nothing, I was just thinking how much you really act like their mother, I always loved how you treat them, like we really were a family.”

“I _am_ their mother, I love them as such and I never stopped seeing them as family, you know that.” She answered, hesitating before continuing in whispers. “Yes, I was hurt and sad but... I never stopped seeing you as family either.” After he’s statement we sat in silence as I drove.

“I’m...”

“Don’t say you’re sorry, just stop apologizing. Anyways, yes I’m coming back tomorrow.” She finally said answering my question.

“Do you mind if I accompany you once more? I could take a day off if you’d like me to accompany you, I also need to do my Christmas shopping.” I proposed. Expecting her response I briefly looked at her who stared back at me with incredulity in her face. “What?” I asked as she kept her gaze on me.

“You are willing to take a day off? You? Carlisle Cullen?” She said with disbelief in her chuckle.

“I know, I know.” I started rolling my eyes. “But I did tell you I wanted to actually spend time with you, I want to make the effort, besides, as the new doctor, I don’t think I’ll be able to have much free time all through Christmas and New Year’s.”

“Alright.” She finally said after looking at me a little longer. “We can leave after the kids go to school.”

l nodded without hiding the slime in my lips. “Do you want to collect the boxes from the hospital today? We can go before going home.”

“Sure.”

As I proposed, we made a stop at Forks General to pick up the remaining packages before arriving home, where the kids were already occupying themselves with different activities. We parked the Jeep in the garage where Rose was giving maintenance to Edward’s car, stoping once she heard us getting out of the car.

“Welcome home.” She greeted us both. “How was your day?”

“Fine, thank you.” Her mother answered. “How about yours? Are the kids at school still as annoying?” She asked with a smile and causing our daughter to roll her eyes before she changed the topic.

“I see you still have some boxes in the car, are they surplus?”

“No, we just didn’t have time to make a third trip today, we’ll be delivering them tomorrow.” I explained.

“I thought you had a shift schedule for tomorrow.” Rose said.

“I do, I’ll call them and ask for a day off.” I said causing a similar reaction to the one on Bella before.

“You’re voluntary asking for a day off?” She finally said.

“I said the same thing.” Bella added with humor.

“Yes, I am. I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe, it’s not like a never do that.”

“I know but it is uncommon.” She finally added before returning to work on her brother’s car.

We finally entered the house and almost immediately Emmett ran to his mother asking for her help before picking her up and running to her library, after the surprise of his action wore off I walked to my office, curious as to what did Emmett needed help with I leaned back in the doorframe of the room they were on my way to my office.

“Can you teach me how to crochet a cardigan?” Emmett asked in a low voice.

“Is that what you needed help with? That’s why you slung me over your shoulder and brought me here?” I chuckled as Bella talked surprised and a little irritated as she hated being tossed around like that.

“Sorry, I didn’t know this was a secret conversation.” I apologized as both turned to look at me.

“Well, it’s only a secret from Rose.” Emmett explained sheepishly. “I wanted to give her something handmade...”

His mother looked at him, who was again facing her with puppy eyes. “Fine.” She said after sighing. “But stop carrying my around like that.” As his excitement returned, he lifted her once more and lifted her in the air.

“EMMETT! PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW! CARLISLE, CONTROL YOUR SON!”

“Emmett, please put your mother down.” I said trying not to laugh.

After apologizing, they got to work immediately as Emmett already had several balls of yarn with him, so I continued to my office were I took a moment to call my boss and request the day off so that I could accompany Bella to Seattle again. Just as I was ending the call, Alice poked her head into the room and asked me to go hunting with her, I complied and we both started running through the woods before finding something to drink from.

“So, what are you planing to do tomorrow?” She asked sitting on the floor aster satiating ourselves, seeing me confused she continued, “you are going with Bella to Seattle again tomorrow.”

“Yes, we need to drop of the last boxes.” I explained still not getting her point.

“So, what are you doing tomorrow, after you drop the boxes. You didn’t only asked for a day off just to drive her, did you?”

I sighed. “No, I guess not, I really want to try and spend more time with her.”

“Well, starting tomorrow there will be a Christmas market and festival near downtown, you could take her there and before you ask, she’ll love it, I don’t want to spoil all the details for you but...” she paused for a second as she scanned through her visions. “The best outcome will be if you feign surprise, don’t plan too much, let it be spontaneous, it’s near the mall so you don’t have to have a special reason to reach the festival.” She declared with a smile.

“What would we do without you?” I asked with a smile as I saw how excited she was. “Thank you, Alice, really.”

“It’s nothing.” She said standing up and leading the way back to the house. “Oh, by the way, take your wool coat tomorrow, the temperature will be dropping significantly.” She said with a wink.

I spent the rest of my day working on my office while Bella spent her time between Emmett asking her constantly if he was doing the cardigan right before Alice stole her to play Bella Barbie once more until she was satisfied with whatever she had chosen, something that was deemed “too much” by her mother as she kept complaining through her dressing up session

“Alice, I’m only going to drop the remaining boxes, tell me again why can’t I just use a pair of jeans?” I heard her mother ask with annoyance in her voice.

“Bella! When will you learn that you don’t need a reason to be fashionable?”

“But it’s just too much.” She reproached “I mean, a skirt? And isn’t it a little too short?” She asked and for a moment I couldn’t help but imagine what exactly she would be wearing tomorrow.

“You’ll be wearing thick thighs, don’t worry. Besides, you have really nice legs! I’m sure Carlisle would agree.” Alice added knowing full well I would agree with her statement.

“I’m not sure about that...” I heard her whisper causing my brows to furrow.

“Well, trust me, you look great, now put on the sweater while I look for shoes.”

As morning approached, the kids started to get ready for school just as I did the same for the day, after showering, I thought of wearing just casual clothes but thinking back at the time Alice and Bella spent together the night before, I decided to choose something dressier just in case, not forgetting to take my coat with me as I went to the garage and took the remaining boxes out of Emmett’s Jeep and into my Mercedes, leaving the coat in the back as well.

I got behind the wheel and moved the car from its place in the garage into the driveway as I waited for Bella to finish getting ready and the kids to leave. At some point, I heard two cars drive away as I got back into the house, signaling the kids had gone to school and instead of waiting near the entrance, I decided to see if she was ready, so I walked up the stairs and to open door of her room.

Looking at her, I knew why she disapproved of Alice’s decisions last night, she was wearing a burgundy form fitting sweater with a deeper neckline than usual and a black circle skirt much shorter than she would ever use, the lack of length of the piece combined with the black tights and boots made her legs look like they went on for miles and I couldn’t help but admire her form for a moment before letting my presence be known.

“Good morning.” I greeted as I knocked on her open door, looking at the ground when she immediately turn to look at me as I tried to hide the fact that I had been ogling her.

“Hi. Is there a change of plans?” She asked, probably confused as to why I didn’t just waited downstairs.

“Uh... no, I just came here to see if you needed something before we leave.”

“Not that I can think about.” She answered as she took her purse and started walking down the stairs. “Are you ready to go?” She asked as I stood frozen for another moment as she walked in front of me.

“Yes, of course.” I said following after her.

I started our drive to Seattle and after talking about trivial matters, I shifted the topic to the Christmas presents, as I still didn’t know what to get some of our kids.

“I wanted to ask you, do you know what you’re getting for Jasper, Rose and Emmett for Christmas?”

“Well, for Jazz I thought about some new art supplies, I know he finished his last sketchbook and he was thinking on practicing with watercolors, do you have anything in mind?”

“I was thinking the other day that maybe Jasper needs a space of his own for his art, I mean, I have my office, Rose has her garage, Edward the music room and you your library.”

“I think it would be nice, we could built something outside so that he has sufficient space to work on any medium he wants, we could also fill it with the supplies he usually uses. Do you think it’ll be ready for Christmas?”

“Maybe, if we start today. How about Rose and Emmett?”

“Well, I don’t know what to give Emmett but I was thinking on buying Rose a ticket for an automobile expo in Canada that’s taking place in January.”

“How about we gift them a vacation? Emmett will have fun hunting and Rose will love the convention, besides, they always like to spend some alone time.”

“I like that idea.”

“It’s settled then, I’ll buy the tickets when we return home.”

After we dropped off the last two boxes, we walked back to the car and drove to the mall where we each went our separate ways to look for Christmas presents. A couple of hours later my phone started ringing as Bella called me to let me know she was done, causing me to ask her to wait for me as I finished paying.

“Did you find everything you were looking for?” I asked to start a conversation as I help her with her bags.

“Yes, I actually just needed to pick some things up so I didn’t have to spend time looking for the gifts, I also took the liberty to look for some things for Jasper’s space, they’ll be sending the stuff directly to our house, I basically bought all the art supplies and equipment.”

“Good, I’ll start with the project when we get home then.” I said making a list in my mind of all the things needed to built the room. “By the way, umm Bella, would you, I mean, you know, if you don't fell very tired… Well I know that we can't get physically tired, but I mean, if you feel like you don't want to go home yet, not that I want to go home right now, that's why I'm asking, although I think it’s best if we don't leave the boys unsupervised for long periods of time… I mean, remember last time we took too much time to return and Emmett went pyro on the kitchen? Well, actually that wasn't very funny. But anyway, I guess they'll be fine, they aren't kids, besides Edward and Rose are home…” I rambled as I turned to look at her clearly waiting for me to get to the point. “I suppose I went off with the rambling…”

“Just a little, but I think you had a question coming in the next hour.” She remarked.

“Yes…” I tried again clearing my throat like a nervous high school boy. “You know how we are in December and this is such a beautiful month with all the snow and the snowmen and the snowwomen…”

“Carlisle…"

“Yes, yes, I'm doing it again... Ok, so did you see the Christmas festival right around the corner when we were coming earlier? I thought you might like to go and see the lights and all the decorations, because I know you like the atmosphere and so, would you?”

“Would I what?”

“Like to go to the festival… with me?” I finally asked her as we reached the car.

“Are you asking me on a date, Carlisle?” She asked amused.

“I... well, I was just thinking... but if you don’t want to...” Meaningless sentences came out of my mouth as my insecurities took over me.

“Yes, I would like to spend some time with you at the Christmas festival.” She answered after a chuckle.

“It’s nice to see I still amuse you.” I said trying to laugh my nervousness off.

After exiting the mall’s parking lot, I drove us for a couple of blocks until I found a place to park. It was a little far from the entrance of the festival but as more people started to arrive to enjoy the festivities, finding spots was more difficult; so I killed the engine and once more I walked around the car to open the door for her before offering her my hand to help her out. 

As we walked to the festival I saw that a lot of couples had the same idea and as people around me walked hand in hand I found myself drawn to do the same with Bella. A part of me told me to get over it, to just hold her hand, after all, the hours she spend unconscious after the wolf attack I had held her in my arms constantly, yet another portion of me argued that it was different, but as we reached the entrance and she started walking through the different stalls of the market I realized I had lost my chance so I just followed her.

“I love the smell of Christmas scented candles.” She said with a beautiful smile as we reached a booth that was adorned with different wax decorations.

“Would you like to take some home?” I asked seeing her smelling the different aromas.

“Don’t you think they’ll be too invasive?” She asked probably thinking about the kids as they sometimes found sweet scents annoying.

“I think it’ll be ok, the boys can live with it, besides, you know Alice and Emmett love everything Christmas.”

“I guess you’re right. Do you think 10 of the big candles are too much?”

“If you want the whole house to smell like Christmas, maybe 15.” Just then, my phone rang with a text from Alice which only contained a 30 and a smiley face, a small laugh came out of me as I showed the message to Bella.

“We’ll take 30 of your big Christmas candles, please.” Bella asked to the owner of the booth, who gave us a big smile as she started packing the candles.

“Let me.” I said as I saw Bella taking her wallet out. “Please.” I insisted with a smile when I saw her ready to argue.

“Fine.” She said giving up the fight.

“Wait.” She said as we took the bags filled with candles ready to move on. “Excuse me, we’ll take this candle too, how much will it be?” She asked taking one shaped like a bear.

“Please take it as a gift, I insist.” The lady said.

“Do you take commissions for pieces like this?” I asked thinking they would be a nice stocking stuffer. In the end we ordered one for each of the kids with shaped that would relate to each of them just like Emmett’s bear.

Seeing the sun had started to set, I looked at the people around us and remembered Alice had told me to bring my wool coat, and though the cool temperatures meant nothing to us, we still liked to act human so as I offered to take our bags to the car and walked back to the car.

Back at the festival I passed the different booths looking for Bella and as I couldn’t find her easily, I smelled the air until I was able to recognize her scent, following it until I was able to see her sitting on a bench listening to the quartet that was playing holiday music in the gazebo. As I resumed my walk to her I saw a man approaching her, and now being in hearing range I heard him offering to buy her a drink to which at first she politely refused. He kept asking her out, trying to make conversation at the same time, not even stoping when she said she was married, clearly displaying her wedding ring on her hand.

“Your husband doesn’t need to know.” He propositioned causing her to roll her eyes. “I mean, it’s his loss, I mean what kind of looser lets go of something so sexy.” He said bringing out of me a need to punch him, yet Bella snapped at him before I reached them.

“Look, I already told you several times no and that’s not going to change. First of all I’m not a thing, I’m a person; secondly, I’m married and you’ll never be a tenth of the man my husband is; finally, I just simply find you utterly repulsive, now get the fuck away from me.” She said standing up but as she was about to walk away, the man made the mistake of grabbing her by the arm causing her to punch him so I ran as fast as humanly possible to her side.

“Are you ok?” I asked when I reached her side. “You didn’t punch him that hard did you?” I added in a whisper only for her to hear.

“I’m fine, thanks.” She answered wrapping her arms around me. “No, I punched him with human force, don’t worry.” She said to answer my second question in the same low volume to which I nodded to let her know I understood.

“Just one thing.” I said after kissing her head as we turned to leave. I walked to the man who was now on his feet again and grabbing him by his coat I turned him to face me before punching him again. “Don’t ever go near my wife again.” I added before turning to her and walking away.

“Do you want to go home?” I asked her.

“No, I’m fine, let’s try to enjoy the rest of the night.” She said with a smile as I put the coat around her. “Thanks. Though, you know I don’t feel the cold.” She thanked me taking my arm as we kept walking.

“I know but humans do.” I answered with a wink.

We spent the next couple of hours walking through the different booths, enjoying the atmosphere as we participated in the activities that didn’t require eating. First, we made a wreathwith fallen branches from the trees they sold and other decorations like pinecones, then we moved on to decorating a prebaked gingerbread house, which resulted in a bit of a fail as the small piping bag that contained the icing exploded in my hand, causing some of the sweet substance to land on her face.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry.” I said mortified trying to clean her face but as I rubbed the icing with a tissue, she just laughed.

“Don’t worry, it was an accident,” She replied between laughs. "Besides, it got you too.” She added as she touched my cheek with her fingertip to flick off a drop of icing before laughing again and once more when we remembered stories from our past christmases as a family, which were specially funny after Emmett joined us.

“He truly is a kid in a man’s body, well, a vampire’s body.” I said after the third anecdote we retold.

“Sometimes I’m amazed that he hasn’t exposed our secret on accident.” She said shaking her head causing both of us to laugh again.

“You don’t give him enough credit, love.” Lost in a laugh I hadn’t heard for decades, I said with the endearment coming out so naturally I didn’t realized I had said it until I felt her tense for a moment at my side, causing both of us to sit in awkward silence for a moment until we finished the house.

When we were done with the decorations, we stood up and walked once more, now heading to the exit as the festival was closing down for the night, but just as we passed a couple of booths, something caught my eye, asking her to wait for me under a tree, I quickly made my way to where a man was selling scarves and other pieces of clothing, there, I bought a lilac silk scarf with little white flowers embroidered in it, a fabric similar to the dress I had bought for her centuries ago. After paying for it, I returned to her side before we both resumed or way to the exit.

“What did you buy?” She asked eyeing the little paper bag on my hand.

“It’s for you.” I said handing the little package to her. “I… I saw this and thought of you.”

She took the scarf out of the bag and after recognition painted her eyes, a small smile grazed her lips and warmth was visible in her eyes.

“Thanks, I love it.” She said not needing to add anything more.

She wrapped the fabric around her neck as we walked back to our car, taking my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine as the smile remained in her face all the way back to our home.


	6. V. Christmas

Edward’s POV

Like every year since Alice and Jasper joined us, as Christmas approached quickly, the house was filled with Alice’s and Emmett’s holiday cheer, though we always volunteered to decorate the house, nothing was up to the child-like expectations of those two, so we would all let them do whatever they wanted, helping with specific chores the asked us. From December the 1st, theatmosphere was created by a mix of colorful decorations, the ongoing fireplace, Christmas scented everything and carols 24/7, either on the speakers or on the minds of my two siblings.

“Mom, do you mind shielding Alice and Emmett for a while?” I asked after the 16th consecutive hour of them repeating the same song over and over again in their heads.

“Which one is it this time?” Bella asked amused coming down the stairs.

“12 days of Christmas.” I answered and just like that, I finally heard silence. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” She said walking to the kitchen as Rosalie and Jasper came home with bags from the supermarket.

“Are you cooking something?” I asked confused.

“Yes, I thought about baking gingerbread cookies for the kids at the hospital, would you like to help me?”

“Sure.” I said getting up from the couch, leaving the book I had been reading on the coffee table.

After a few minutes, Bella and I were the only ones left in the kitchen as Jasper and Rose had been called by their partners for help as they were decorating the exterior of the house. At some point we sat in silence in the kitchen as we now had to wait for the first batch of cookies to bake before baking the second.

“So... have you met anyone new?” Bella asked to break the silence.

“We basically just moved a couple of months ago,” I said confused. “Everyone is new.”

“That’s not what I mean... I was referring to someone more...special. Emmett said there where a lot of persons drawn to you, I just wanted to tell you that if you feel drawn to one of those individuals it doesn’t matter if it’s a guy.”

“This is so weird.”

“Honey, it’s ok, I also felt weird at the beginning when I found out I liked women too.”

“Mom! Are we really doing this? Wait... what? You like women too?” She just nodded.

“I thought you knew...”

“How would I know? I can’t read your thoughts.”

“Well no, but you can read your father’s.”

“Mom, please stop.” I begged as I closed my eyes trying not to imagine any details.

“Fine, I’ll stop, I just wanted to tell you we will always accept you no matter what.” She said as she playfully ruffled my hair.

“Thanks?” I said not sure how to respond. “So... now that you awkwardly introduced this topic... What about you and dad? How are you two doing?”

“It’s... complicated.” She simply answered as she started to fidget with dough scraps.

“You seemed to have a nice time in Seattle.”

“We did, it was nice to spend some time together.”

“Can I ask you something?” I wondered after seconds of silence. She nodded. “Do you blame him?” I finally blurted not finding a subtle way to put it.

She sighed at my question before answering. “No, I don’t blame him. I’ve known about the existence of bonds for a long time and to be honest, there was a time when I myself didn’t believe in them but then Ithaca happened and I realized they were real and how strong they could be, so I get it.”

“But you were able to deny its pull instantly.”

She sighed at my comment, taking some time before answering me. “I have thought about that, you know. In the beginning it was easy to only concentrate in that detail but as time passed and the more I thought about it, I think its unfair to have expected the same from him, I mean, maybe the circumstances were different, maybe not all the bonds are as strong, who knows?

“What I do know is that he managed to stop. Granted, one could say he stopped a little too late. Some may think I’m making a mistake accepting him again but… even when the pain he caused me rivals the one from the transformation, I can’t say my feelings for him have diminished.

“I’ve heard some vampires compare the pull of a bond to the one a singer, I wouldn’t know for I’ve never encountered mine but I think you can see in Emmett’s head how intense it was for him when he came across his, at the same time, you can see if that instinct rivals the one he felt when he saw Rose for the first time.” She explained causing me to think about it.

Having insight to Emmett’s thoughts I think it was a sensible comparison, yet, as much as I cared for Carlisle as if he was my father, I couldn’t say I understood Bella’s decision, so I couldn’t help but ask another question. “Are you afraid?”

“Again, it’s complicated. I’d be lying if I told you I’m perfectly fine because I’m not, yes, a part of me is afraid, I’m afraid of hurting again but at the same time when I think of him, I remember everything we’ve been through and though quite sloppy, I see him trying to do things right and…”

“You love him.” I finished for her more as a statement than a question.

She huffed a humorless laugh. “Yes, I love him. I still think he’s a good man and I like to think he still feels the same about me.”

Just then, our conversation was interrupted by the sound of a tree being dragged from the outside and as we walked to the living room, we saw Emmett and Jasper coming in with a pine still covered in snow that was starting to melt with the heat of the fire.

“Please remove the water and try not to do a bigger mess.” Bella said seeing the snow melting and starting to pool on the floor.

“Yes, mom.” The both answered.

“Are we going to wait for dad to decorate the tree together?” Rose asked coming in with some wood, nails and a hammer to make a base for the tree.

“I don’t know when he will be home.” Bella answered as she took out her phone and sent a text. “He says he’ll be here at around 7, he just has to wait for the morning shift to arrive, you could just bring all the ornaments to the living room in the meantime. I’ll be in the kitchen finishing baking the cookies.”

“Ok.” We answered.

“God dammit!” We heard Alice’s voice resonating throughout the house and I chuckled a bit as I saw the vision that had angered her.

“Is there something wrong?” Carlisle asked her with concern as he passed another set of Christmas lights to Rose who was being lifted by Emmett to reach the upper part of the tree.

“Tanya and the rest of the family decided to ‘surprise’ us with a last minute visit for Christmas. They’ll be arriving on Christmas Eve.”

“Is there a problem with that?” He asked still not understanding her exasperation while his mind came up with reasons for it. _Will the pack attack us if they come?_ He thought.

“Well, only the fact that I didn’t planned for them coming, I haven’t even bought presents for them!” At her response, I couldn’t help but chuckle at Carlisle’s expression. “They’ll arrive in two days! That’s not enough time to get ready!” She continued as she made plan after plan in her mind. “I need to go to Seattle again! I just saw some pieces of jewelry the sisters will love!” She explained as she walked upstairs to get her purse while Carlisle stood still in the living room somewhat perplex and irritated at the same time at Alice’s usual antics. “Rose, Em, come with me to Seattle!”

“What was what you told me days ago?” Bella asked him as she looked up from a box where she was looking for something. “Oh yeah, that I should give Alice a break because it’s Christmas.” She answered herself in a lighthearted mocking tone.

“What would you do without me?” Alice asked returning with Jasper ready to go out.

“Live in peace.” I offered under my breath while helping Bella open the boxes she hadn’t gone through and causing Alice to huff.

“Don’t be too mad at Eddie, Alice, he’s now stressed cause you just told him Tanya is coming.” Emmett said as he put Rose on the ground.

“Thanks for reminding me...” I said, already dreading all the insinuations I was sure to receive from Tanya.

“I don’t know why don’t you just say yes to her.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Oh come on...”

“Emmett, Edward, that’s enough.” Bella interrupted us. “Now, be careful with the tree, I don’t want anything broken this year.”

“Yes mom…” We both said.

“Well, we are going to go buy presents for the Denalis, don’t worry, I already saw what you would’ve gotten them, I’ll buy all of those too. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“You’re not gonna wait and decorate with us?” Jasper asked surprised as we all know how much our little pixie loved doing that.

“Ugh, it’s so difficult to leave but if we don’t go today, most of the things will be sold out by tomorrow!” She whined causing us to laugh.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, we can wait for you to come back, we’ll just finish putting the lights on, you can help with the ornaments.” Carlisle said.

“Yay! We better be off then, the earlier we go, the earlier we’ll be back.” She finally said before skipping out of the house and into the garage.

“Why do we have to go? Isn’t this usually Jasper’s job?” Emmett asked as he reluctantly walked after his wife and Alice.

“Because while we are out, Bella is going to start decorating the cookies and if Jaspers doesn’t get to do some of them he’ll be all mopey because he wants to help mommy.” Alice answered causing Jasper to roll her eyes and Bella to smile.

“Fine…” Emmett answered before barely mouthing _Help me_ as he walked out.

“I saw that!” Alice’s voice was heard before the ignition of Emmett’s Jeep.

“Well.” Bella said after we all shared a laugh at Emmett's expense. “I’ll be in the kitchen, I think the cookies are cool enough to decorate.” She stood up from where she was sitting on the floor, walking to the kitchen with Jasper behind her.

“Would you like more help?” Carlisle offered.

“If you want to.” And with that, we all followed her to the kitchen where Jasper was already putting powdered sugar, eggs, food coloring and lemon juice next to a stand mixer.

While Bella checked on all the cookies, putting aside the ones that where still warm, she gave us the task of making and coloring the royal icing as well as putting it on small piping bags,so the three of us took over different parts of the icing making process. As such, Jasper was in charge of mixing the ingredients before passing the batches to Carlisle who was mixing the different colors before giving them to me to put in piping bags.

All the while, we worked mostly in silence except from the background music, leaving everyone to their own thoughts. It was interesting to listen to Jasper as he was truly happy helping with the cookies, he felt at ease and was already planning on what things he could paint on them, treating them as little canvases, probably why he liked it so much.

On the other hand, listening to Carlisle’s thoughts was a little nerve-racking as had been for the last couple of months every time he was in the same room as Bella. He though he had been happy and somewhat relieved the day they had returned from their date in Seattle, his worried thoughts were once more plaguing his mind, wondering if every tiny this or that was or would upset Bella, he basically walked on eggshells around the house and clearly I wasn’t the only one who noticed as I suddenly saw a change in Jasper’s thoughts as Carlisle’s nervousness was starting to get to him before he excused himself with the excuse to go to the store as they apparently had forgotten to buy some candies to use as buttons and eyes for the gingerbread men and women.

As Jasper left, I was the only one suffering from Carlisle’s self-deprecating thoughts and though I could’ve asked Bella to shield him I felt uncomfortable doing so, so I tried my best to ignore him.

At some point I saw Carlisle was almost out of icing so I decided to take over my brother’s task and put all the ingredients on the mixing bowl to make the third batch, so after adding the sugar with the egg white already beaten in the mixing bowl, I heard Bella’s phone go off signaling a text before she ran to me.

“Edward, no!” She said a little too late as she got to me the moment I started the mixer before a white powdery cloud hit us on the face.

We stood in silence for about a second, yet, it felt like time had frozen momentarily before I saw Bella reached over to the other side of the mixer to put and end to its movement. As I took in my surroundings, I saw the white sweet powder covering the counter, some of the cookies that were near to the mixer and the half that was closer to me of Bella who let out I sigh before closing her eyes.

“Mom…”

“Edward, go change.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll clean this immediately.”

“Edward, please go change, your father and I will clean this.”

“But..”

“GO.” With that I sprinted to my room before jumping into the shower.

Afraid of how mad I had made her I went to Carlisle’s mind to see her through his eyes and though she wasn’t happy I was relieved to see she wasn’t angry. _It’s nice to see I’m not the only one that’s a helpless cause with icing._ He said as images of their last trip to Seattle filled his mind, specially one where he put too much pressure in a pipping bag causing it to explode.

To his comment, Bella answered with a soft laugh as she started to dust the sugar off of her face and hair. Seeing that her attempts at getting rid of the powdery substance were quite futile, as she still seemed to be as covered in sugar as before, Carlisle dampened a cloth and help her with its removal before she took off her apron—careful as to not get powder on more places.

 _You have some more sugar on your face._ He said as she turned to face him once more causing her to rub her face again unsuccessfully.

 _Is it gone?_ She asked with some trails of my mistake still present on her face.

 _No,_ he said shaking his head, _let me help you._ He offered as he gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb getting rid of the stain before caressing her lower lip to remove another blotch of sugar. They stood frozen for a while as he kept looking at her lips before he turned his sight upwards to her eyes, which seemed to reflect the same daze he was in.

Seconds passed with them standing in front of each other in silence as they, seemingly unconsciously, started to close the space between them, an action that was interrupted by the sound of Jasper’s bike entering the garage, causing them to awkwardly move away from each other.

 _I’ll finish cleaning, why don’t you go take a shower, we’ll decorate the cookies when you’re done._ He proposed.

 _Are you sure?_ To her question he nodded before he watched her leave the kitchen.

The rest of the day went by uneventful, after both Bella and I had showered and gotten dress, we both went back into the kitchen were Carlisle and Jasper had done the rest of the icing we would be using, so we just needed to decorate the cookies, a task I could only help after I watched carefully how Jasper and Bella poured the sweet mixture, covering the surface of the cookies.

By the time we were done, Jasper was swimming in an atmosphere of contentment and relaxation that not even Carlisle’s continuous self doubt—which I knew was caused by his previous actions with Bella—was able to diminish it. At some point, while all the icing was drying, we heard the Jeep nearing the house, so we went back to the living room to wait for the rest of the family so that we could finish having the ornaments on the tree.

Just like Alice had said, the whole Denali family arrived at our doorstep on Christmas Eve, happy and exited to spend some time with us after decades of not seeing each other all together as family, after the effusive greetings and them getting settled on our guest rooms, all 12 of us were sitting on the living room. While Bella and Carlisle talked with Eleazar and Carmen, Irina and Tanyachatted with Rose and Alice and Kate entertained herself by getting up to date with everything that had happened as she spoke with Emmett and I; in the mean time, Jasper sat near the center of the room as he was silently enjoying all the happiness and excitement that irradiated from all of us.

* * *

Bella’s POV

It was nearly 8 pm when I was sitting on the balcony of my room looking at the trees and the darkness of the forest that surrounded us, unable to distract myself from overthinking Carlisle’s actions that had take place earlier in the day. I came back over and over again to the way his thumb softly rubbed my lip and the feeling it ignited in me at the same time that I wondered if he felt the same way. How theoretically easy would’ve been to close the distance between us, to step on the tip of my toes and press my lips to his. I looked back at the time we spent in Seattle, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking how easy it would have been for him to take my hand as we walked to the festival, yet, he hadn’t done it until I did, and even then, it wasn’t until I intertwined my fingers with his that he answered the touch.

I couldn’t push away my conversation with Edward either, I felt lost and afraid, had he changed his mind? Was I putting myself up for more heartache? After we returned from Seattle the other day I felt lighter, like something was beginning to change, like we were moving forward, but the more I replayed in my mind Carlisle’s actions, or lack thereof, the more I wondered if he wasn’t actually interested anymore. The last time we talked about it he said he wanted to try to have a relationship with me again, but now I couldn’t help but wonder if the absence of affection signaled the contrary.

A knock on my door took my out of my nerve-racking absorption caused by the several the what ifs that swirled through my mind. “Come in.” I said as I got up and turned to look at Carlisle, putting the book I had given up on reading on my bedside table.

“Hi. Can we talk?” He asked with nervousness reflecting in him.

I felt a pit on my stomach as my minds wondered through hundreds of questions he could ask, topics that in my head mostly ended with him regretting our current situation. “Sure.” I said trying to seemed composed and not being eaten by self-doubt and fear.

“I just wanted to ask you about our current living arrangement, because Alice saw the Denalis arriving for Christmas and given that they don’t know about our… situation, I was wondering what are we going to do.”

“I haven’t thought about it.” I said honestly as my mind haven’t even considered the reaction Eleazar, Carmen and the sisters could have to us.

“According to the kids, none of them know anything of what happened between us.” I nodded to acknowledge him.

“What would you like to do?” I asked.

He kept quiet for a little while, weighting the options before giving me his opinion. “Well, if I’m being completely honest, I would like to keep it from them.”

I nodded once more. “I agree, it’s Christmas, I don’t think this is the time to talk about this things with them.” I said out loud, though in my head I thought how I just couldn’t bear to have more people around treating me like a broken doll as they look at me with pity in their eyes.

“Well, seeing that we agree on that, now we should discuss the rooming situation. Giving that right know we have separate rooms, I think it’s for the best if I moved temporarily here so to not arise suspicions within them, though if you’re not comfortable with that, we can look for another solution.”

“It’s fine.” I simply said while shrugging. “When will you move your things?”

“I have another graveyard shift in a couple of hours but if you don’t mind, I’ll do it tomorrow after I return from the hospital.”

“Ok, I guess I’ll move some things around to leave some space for you in here in the meantime.” I answered while my gaze once more turned to the woods.

“Bella.” He called taking a step towards me after a moment of silence, causing a fleeting feeling of frustration as my hypocorism left his lips. “Is there something bothering you?” I shook my head. He took another step in my direction, beginning to speak as he reached for me before dropping his hands to his sides again. “Bella…”

“I said I’m fine.” I said cutting him and facing him again.

He looked at me for a couple of seconds before looking at the ground before apologizing and exiting the room.

Just like I said, while he went to work, I rearranged some of my belongings to leave space for him for the time being and after I was done with my room, I went to prepare our four guest rooms, one for Carmen and Eleazar and the other three for Tanya, Kate and Irina. As I moped the floor of the second room, I heard Rose clear her throat before speaking.

“So… Edward heard on Carlisle’s mind that we’ll be pretending everything is fine.”

“Yes, we decided it was the best.”

“Do you think ignoring the situation is the best?”

“Rosalie…” I said with a warning tone. "We are not ignoring the situation, we just want to keep this between us.”

“By pretending everything is fine… How is that not ignoring the problem? Since we came back we have all been living in a perpetual awkward atmosphere whenever you two are together in the same room, Edward gets frustrated every time he has to listen to Carlisle’s thoughts and Jasper actively tries to spend more time away from the house!”

“Rosalie, that’s enough! Even though I appreciate everything you and your siblings have done for your father and for me regarding this situation, right now I don’t want to hear any opinions on the matter, Carlisle and I are still the head of this family and coven, and as such I expect all of you to respect our decisions.

“Yes, I understand our situation is uncomfortable for everyone and I’m sorry if you or any of your siblings find themselves on edge but its not easy to fix things, and before you say something else, yes, we have tried to work on our problems but it’s not like there is a guide on how to deal with the fact that your husband, with whom you been for almost 200 years, found his actual soulmate in someone else.

“And about wanting to keep this between us, _you_ more than anyone should understand why! Why I hate when I have to pretend that I don’t notice how all of you treat me like damaged goods! Why I hate every time any of you look at me expecting me to breakdown again, though clearly it finally happened! So excuse me if I just want to prevent that from happening with the Denalis when they visit!”

With the mop forgotten in the floor, I felt Rosalie’s arms around me as I tried to calm myself down. “I’ll just tell the others, then.” She said breaking the silence we had been in as I finally stopped sobbing without tears.

* * *

“They’ll be here in five minutes!” Alice’s voiced called excitedly from her room before I heard her sprint to the living room ahead of all of her siblings.

“Are you ready?” Carlisle asked coming into what would be _our_ room for the next couple of days.

I nodded. “Did you notified the pack about our guests?” I asked not wanting to subject anyone to another attack.

“Yes, they send their apologies again by the way.” I nodded.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” I said after a couple of seconds and braking the silence we stood in before pulling my wedding ring from my necklace and sliding it on my finger.

“Three minutes!” Alice said from downstairs.

“Shall we?” He asked offering me his arm which I took before we made our way downstairs to wait with everyone else behind the main door for our guests to make their “unexpected visit.”

As was expected, there was no better word to describe the environment around us than awkward as Carlisle and I stumbled to show affection towards each other, something that before was as natural as hunting for us. The more we pretended in front of our guests, I realized how physically affectionate we had always been as I remember the way we would act around each other, actively looking through my memories to see how I should be acting.

Therefore, as we participated in traditionally christmasy activities, Carlisle and I spent most of our time together pressing soft kisses on the other’s lips and cheeks, he sat me on his lap as everyone made popcorn garlands and he kept his arms around my waist as we all walked through the woods before Emmett started a snowball fight between both families.

Though at first it was taxing to act all the time as we felt like we were walking on eggshells, the more time we spent together, the more normal everything seemed, this is how it used to be years ago, this is how it should’ve remained, yet we didn’t fool observes, both Carlisle and I knew it was a temporary show, this wasn’t how it was now and every time our gazes crossed paths, we were reminded of that fact and our ineptitude shone through our clumsy actions once more. 

“Could you zip me up?” I asked Carlisle from inside the closet as I turned in front of the full-length mirror to see myself in the deep red velvet cocktail dress Alice had chosen for me to wear on Christmas.

“Of course.” He answered walking into the closet with his eyes averting my form he touched my dress with unsure fingers. I remembered how he used to be, how it seemed he couldn’t take his hands off of me, now, he didn’t even looked my way except—it seemed—to look at my imperfections as I saw in his reflection his eyes fixed on the scars that were left on my shoulder and neck from the wolf attack while his fingers remain on the zipper, causing me to undo my hairdo and let down my hair, sweeping it to one side to cover the new marks before I walked to my dresser from where I picked up the brooch with the family crest before pinning it to the dress.

After coming out of his thoughts, we exited the room and walked to the stairs where he took my hand as we walked downs where everyone was already waiting for us. “Merry Christmas.” Carlisle said to everyone in the room causing all of them to answer us almost in unison. With that we sat down on the loveseat near the fire place before we began exchanging the gifts.

Edward’s POV

As always, exchanging gifts was a big part of our day, as the years went by and when we already had most of the things we wanted, selecting gifts for one another was a time-consuming but rewarding process and as Alice started to deliver the boxes that overfilled the space bellow the tree, we could all feel the anticipation that flowed through us thanks to Jasper who couldn’t control the overwhelming sensation that 12 vampires caused in one room.

First came Alice’s gifts, who—against all odds—gave each one of us ugly Christmas sweaters she forced us to put on immediately to get “in the spirit”, in addition, she gave all the girls in both families a similar necklace that only changed in the engravings she had asked for each of them and in a similar fashion, she selected rings for the guys, except for Emmett who received a bear kigurumi and a wink from her.

Then came Jasper, whose gifts included paintings for Bella and Rose one that reflected their emotions. Rose followed who somehow managed to acquire the original music sheet for Clair de Lune by Debussy for me and Jasper’s Medal from his human life as a soldier.

“So, Rose.” I said as I has handing out my gifts. “My real gift to you didn’t come in time, but I also bought this for you.” I said as I gave her a present. “I know you and Jasper like to spend time together so I got you a bike so that you two can ride together but the bike will be here after New Years, sorry.” I explained as she pulled out a letter jacket from the box.

Then it was time for Bella and Carlisle who, together, presented Jasper with a new space just for him so that he could work freely on his art; between the two they also gifted Carmen and Eleazar a trip to Spain and a weekend in Quebec for Emmett and Rose.

Carlisle then opened the gift Bella gave him and as he saw what was inside of the box: a gold bracelet with a vine-like engraving that carefully rested inside a flower crown. At that moment I saw Jasper feeling an overwhelming sensations of melancholy and love, which was explained by a memory of Bella’s first months as a newborn that came to his mind when he took the piece in his hands.

The last one to hand out his gifts was Emmett, who had us wondered what he had gotten us for Christmas as he had bribed Alice not to tell me what he had selected for us and asked Bella to shield him while he came up with gifts so that I couldn’t see what he was planning. In the end, he gave Alice and Jasper one of those art sets for kids, one for watercolor and one fashion designed themed before passing to Rose who received a handmade sweater and a “sexy calendar” with pictures of him that she promised to hang on her garage.

I was last and as he gave me a book for the look of the packaging, I started to feel suspicious as I saw his anticipation when I started to tear the paper. “Oh my God, Emmett! I’m not gay!” I said as I read the tittle of the book that read _How to come out to your family_ , causing a loud laugh to come out of him, an action that was followed by almost everyone except for “the adults” of the family.

“Are you sure?” Tanya asked. “Because that would make sense, I mean, you’re the only man that has ever refused me.”

“Yes, Tanya, I’m sure.”

“Really?” Emmett interjected. “Look at her! Can you really tell me you’re not gay after saying you’re not interested in her? I mean, I’m not talking about a relationship but have you never thought about just sleeping with her?”

“No, no I haven’t.”

“Oh, come on!” Emmett continued.

“Guys, stop, we shouldn’t force Edward to admit his homosexuality if he’s not comfortable with that.” Kate said.

“I’m not gay! I don’t like men and I don’t like women because I don’t like anyone!” I finally snapped.

“What?” Emmett asked with confusion wrote in his face.

“I don’t feel attracted to anyone, sexually or otherwise.”

“How?” He asked still seemingly not understanding.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Bella asked curious.

“I don’t know, why didn’t _you_ say anything before?”

“Please, Edward, everyone in this room have known Bella was bisexual for decades now.” Rose exclaimed. “Just look at her wardrobe, it was clear as day! Besides, we were talking about you, dear brother.”

“Yeah, I have a lot of questions.” Emmett said.

“Ugh, can we just pass onto something else?” I said after seeing Emmett questions on his mind.

“Why don’t we move everything to make room for dancing.” Carlisle proposed putting and end to the current conversation.

Bella’s POV

As the kids moved the couches and tables out of the way to make room for Edward’s piano in the living room, I excused myself for a moment as I walked to the back porch to have a moment away from all the commotion inside, so I leaned over the wooden banister while I played with the layer of snow that was collected on top of it.

After a couple of minutes, I heard the door slide open as Carlisle stepped into the porch and walked over to me. “They finished moving everything inside, Edward is starting to play.” He announced.

I nodded in understanding. “I’ll be inside in a little while, I just wanted some peace.”

“You were never one for parties.” He said resting his arms on the wood beside me after swiping the snow off with his hand.

“I guess some things never change.” I answered before we stood in another silence before I finally sighed. “Do you want to go back in?” I asked and in response he turned to me before signaling with his hand for me to lead the way.

As we neared the door, I saw there was a mistletoe hanging on the outside and as he stopped beside me I realized he had seen it too, causing us to awkwardly stand in front of the glass door not knowing what to do, knowing full well everyone inside could see us. Slowly I felt Carlisle’s hand nervously reaching for mine before he bent down to softly press his lips to mine.

“Merry Christmas.” He whisper with a smile before straightening up and walking back inside.

Once more we took our usual loveseat that now rested against a wall and for a while both Carlisle and I sat in silence listening to our first son play an assortment of songs while Rose accompanied him with her voice. All the while I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wander into negative paths all over again as I started to overthink everything again. I wondered about the kiss. _Did he only kissed me because it was traditional? Did he kissed me because everyone inside could be looking at us? Did he just wanted to kiss me?_

“Is everything all right?” He asked causing me to blink a couple of times as I came back to reality. “Sorry, you seem to be troubled by something.”

“No, It’s ok, I’m fine.”

“Do you want to go back outside? We could go out for a walk, I mean, if you don’t mind my company.” 

“No, it’s fine, it’s nothing, really.” I said with a half smile trying to appease him.

He nodded awkwardly looking away. “I really loved the bracelet.” He said touching the metal that now rested on his left wrist with his opposite hand. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” He said sincerely.

“You’re welcome”

“Would you like to dance?” Carlisle asked me as he rose from the seat offering me his hand, I accepted and he led me to the center of the makeshift dance floor where Carmen and Eleazar as well as Jasper and Alice were already dancing.

We remained in silence as we danced to Edward’s music while we heard our son started to play a piece he had composed for the both of us decades ago. “You look exquisite tonight.” He said at some point after a spin, looking into my eyes.

“Thank you.” I answered breaking the connection of our gazes when I placed my head on his chest. “You look really handsome yourself.” I said with a shyness I hadn’t felt in centuries as the last notes of our song resonated throughout the house.

“What was that about?” We heard Alice ask causing us to turn to look at her with the characteristic look in her eyes that signaled a vision.

“Is there something wrong?” Carlisle asked clearly worried.

“You and mom are being summoned to Volterra.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, initially I had planned to upload two times a week, but real life has been a bit hectic so for a while I'll be posting once a week cause I think it's better than to upload twice and finish with the chapters I already have and then go for a couple of weeks without any update.
> 
> Also, I wrote and extended shitpost version of the presents scene so if anyone would like to see that, please tell me. :)
> 
> Thanks for reading.


	7. Extended Christmas Scene. Shitpost Edition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“I’m not gay! I don’t like men and I don’t like women because I don’t like anyone!” I finally snapped.

“What?” Emmett asked with confusion wrote in his face.

“I don’t feel attracted to anyone, sexually or otherwise.”

“How?” He asked still seemingly not understanding.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Bella asked curious.

“I don’t know, why didn’t _you_ say anything before?”

“Please, Edward, everyone in this room have known Bella was bisexual for decades now.” Rose exclaimed. “Just look at her wardrobe, it was clear as day!

“Rose, you shouldn’t make assumptions based on someone’s wardrobe.” Carlisle told her.

“I mean, she’s not wrong.” Alice interjected causing almost everyone in the room to nod in agreement. “Do you know long it took me to tear her apart from her flannels? I think she still has some of them from the 1990s in her closet!”

“Don’t forget her converse.” Rose added.

“Ugh, her shoe collection is another matter altogether.” Alice said with frustration in her voice.

“Also, I have felt some... lust emanating from her in a couple of occasions that involved another woman.” Jasper added shyly.

“Have you always known about this?” I asked Carlisle.

“Well, not _always_ but it did surprised me a little bit how long it took Bella to realized it herself.”

“Wait, you knew before I told you?” Bella asked turning to face Carlisle who just nodded. “Since when?”

“The… 1920s…” He answered sheepishly.

“The 20s! You knew for 40 years before I even proposed anything to you?!” Again, he just nodded.

“Wait, what is this about a proposition?” Emmett asked.

“You see, it was 1967 in San Francisco and your mother said we should try…”

“Oh God, stop! Forget that I asked!” my brother said interrupting Carlisle with a disgusted face, an expression that was mirrored by most of us.

“Boys, experimenting is completely normal, as vampires we spend a long time on earth and being curious is natural; like your mother, sometimes you realize you feel sexual attraction to both sexes and...”

“We said we don’t want to know!” Me and my siblings all said in unison while the Denalis just looked amused.

“Wait, how did you know?” Bella asked him not paying attention to the rest of us.

“Well, you remember that we used to go to a lot of the speakeasies in the 20s? I never said anything but I saw the way you would sometimes look at the flappers, you hated when other men approached you but never recoiled when women did even if you didn’t do anything about it. Also, you took to the boyish silhouette like a fish to water, I also noted you had a thing for redheads.” He added amused.

“Have you ever gotten jealous?” Eleazar asked half curious half confused. “I mean, being completely honest, I don’t think I’d ever be comfortable if Carmen told me she wanted to have sex with someone else.”

“Well no,” Carlisle answered truthfully. “Because I’ve been part of Bella’s sexual experiences that have involved others.”

“OH MY GOD!” Rosalie’s voice was heard between the rest of me and my siblings yelps as we tried to pretend we didn’t hear what Carlisle had said.

“Please, just stop thinking about that!” I added. “This is all your fault, Emmett!”

“Don’t blame this on me, brother!”

“You brought this topic up!”

“I never thought we would end up talking about Carlisle and Bella having a threesome!” He yelled back causing us to cringe again.

“All right, all right, enough with your mother’s bisexuality.” Carlisle interrupted before turning back to me. “Edward, you know we love you no matter what, right?”

I just nodded avoiding his gaze, wishing I could forget the images I had seen in his mind.

“Well, now that I as well as most of us here are deeply traumatized thanks to the discussion of our parents sex life, how about we have Christmas diner.” Emmett proposed standing up while everyone but Jasper, Alice and I looked at him in confusion.

“Emmett, what did you do?” Rose asked his husband with a tone that left the question _do I even want to know?_ in between the lines.

Emmett laughed before he and Jasper left the house just to return moments later carrying knocked out deers and dropping them in the center of the living room, causing Bella to facepalm in exasperation while Carlisle looked at the animals mortified.


	8. VI. Old Friends

Edward’s POV

“Do you know when?” Carlisle asked cutting through the silence as I had stopped playing.

Alice shook her head. “No specifically, Aro hasn’t made a decision. It seems that the reason they’ll be summoning you is being kept as secret as possible, at the moment only the decision to write to you has been made.”

“Do you see something else? Any clue of what this might be about?” Bella asked with Carlisle tightening his hold on her as he processed the information, tuning to look at Eleazar as if asking him if he had any idea of what could be happening.

“Only that it will be an urgent matter, maybe you should ask for some time off though I’m not sure of the dates yet.” My sister said looking at him.

He nodded and though the celebration was interrupted by the uncertain news of Alice’s vision, we tried to put it to the back of our minds, at least until we had more information.

Days passed and the New Year began, the Denalis went back to Alaska and as there hadn’t been any more news from the Volturi, we all went back to our routines; that was until Alice started to actively trying to look into their future, worryingly, to no avail.

“Love, maybe whatever issue they had has been resolved, maybe they aren’t planning on contacting Bella and Carlisle anymore.” Jasper offered his wife as they sat in the living room with us, her face showing her concentration as bits and pieces of visions flicked through her mind, showing Aro, Caius and Marcus as well as some of the guards in a haze.

Just like before, there was an image of what seemed to be Aro writing a letter, another of him and Marcus traveling; of the Three Kings, Caius was the more defined as he apparently remained in Volterra for whatever was going on. As Alice tried to look for others, I saw the twins and Chelsea just as undefined.

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Alice answered preoccupied. “Even if they weren’t planning on contacting Bella and Carlisle, I should be able to see their future.”

“What are you talking about?” Bella asked confused.

“Well, you see...” Alice started uncomfortable. “I haven’t been able to see the kings or some of the guard, at least not clearly.”

“You’ve always had problems seeing the future of people you don’t know well.” Carlisle reminded her trying to ease her uncertainty but once more our pixie shook her head.

“No, it’s not like that. It started with them appearing blurry in my visions, now, I can’t see some of them, like they are gone, but I know they aren’t gone cause I see glimpses of them every once in a while when I concentrate and I can see them through their interactions and decisions with some of the guards.”

“Who can’t you see?” Carlisle asked.

“Well, the only one that’s completely gone from my sight is Demetri but I know he’s not dead cause I saw Aro referring to him about something.”

“Do you think they might be in danger?” Jasper asked. _Will Bella and Carlisle be in danger if that’s the case?_ He asked in his mind.

“I... I don’t know...” Alice said with an uncharacteristic uncertainty. “I don’t _think_ so but... I can’t be sure.” She continued as Jasper comforted her.

“Someone is coming.” I said as the image of a cloaked figure arriving to our front porch came to her mind as she was once more trying to see something. “It’s unclear who but they’ll be arriving in the next couple of days.” I finished explaining as Alice came out of her clairvoyant daze.

* * *

Just like Alice had predicted, five days after her vision there was a knock on the door while everyone except Carlisle was home. As only Bella and I were in the living room while reading, I stood up to answer the door.

“Chelsea.” I said as the woman stood in front of me.

“Edward. Long time no seeing. I hope I’m not intruding.” She said with fake amicability in her voice.

“Of course not. Please, come in.” I answered as I moved to the side to let her in before following her to the living room where Bella was now standing with the rest of my siblings.

 _I already texted Carlisle, he’s on his way_. Alice thought for me to know, I slightly nodded in acknowledgement.

“Chelsea,” Bella called with a smile and though her attitude was calmed and collected, I read from Jasper’s thoughts she was feeling both confusion and uneasiness as we didn’t know what to expect. “To what do we owe the pleasure? I imagine this is more than a mere social call.” She said before dropping her shield and directing her thoughts to me. _Edward, can you see an ulterior motive in her mind?_ She asked as the lack of Alice’s visions regarding The Volturi’s future was concerning.

I shook my head slightly, only enough for Bella to see as she was looking for my response, causing her to relax.

“Sadly it’s not, I’ve been sent to deliver a letter from The Three Kings,” she explained walking closer to our mother before handing her a black envelope with the official seal of The Volturi in red wax. “Further instructions are listed on the paper.”

“Thank you.” Bella said talking the letter showing no intention of opening it at the moment as she demonstrated by placing it on the coffee table between the two of them.

“Is there a problem?” Chelsea asked.

“No, but I rather wait for Carlisle to open the letter. Alice...”

“Dad is on his way, he knows we have company.” Alice answered as she already knew what Bella was going to ask.

In the meantime, Jasper moved his gaze from Chelsea to me as if he was looking for confirmation when he tasted the lust she felt for Bella as well as the jealousy at Carlisle when our mother and Alice had mentioned him. I nodded not even trying to hide my annoyance as I rolled my eyes quasi instinctively.

“Thank you, Alice.” Bella said before turning her attention to Chelsea. “I’m sure he will be home promptly, in the mean time, please take a seat. Let me introduce you, you already know Edward, these are Rosalie and Emmett and Alice and Jasper. Kids, this is Chelsea, a member of the High Guard of The Volturi.”

“Pleased to meet you.” My siblings acknowledged in unison while Chelsea only bowed with her head.

“Well, Bella, I didn’t think Carlisle would grew the coven so much, I thought he despised this life.”

“He didn’t, aside for Edward and I, he only transformed Rose, I transformed Emmett at Rose’s request and Alice and Jasper found us. Now, Rose, Jasper, please inform the pack of our guest.” She commanded causing them to nod before they promptly left through the woods. “In the meantime, tell me Chelsea, how is everyone doing back in Volterra? I haven’t been in Italy in a while.”

With that, Alice and Emmett decided to leave while I remained in the living room, returning to the couch I was on before Chelsea’s arrival, pretending I resumed my reading as I kept tabs on her thoughts while she and Bella talked whilst they waited for Carlisle to come home.

Just as we expected, minutes later we heard the Mercedes getting closer to the house and as Carlisle came into my range of hearing I caught onto his thoughts. _What is this about? What could possibly be affecting Alice’s vision so much? I should’ve asked what our story was._ He wondered all the way until he reached the garage and killed the engine before exiting the car and walking into the house.

The moment he entered the living room, his eyes darted to Bella’s left hand as he looked for an indication of how they where going to present themselves to The Volturi, which was apparently the same as with The Denali as Bella had slipped her wedding ring back on her finger, so appropriately he walked to her—who was already standing again—to greet her with a kiss.

“Hello, love.”

“Hi, how was your day?” She asked.

“A bit hectic, we had two car accidents, most of them in critical condition but we managed to stabilize them, hopefully they’ll be out of danger soon.” He explained, but as Bella and Carlisle played house, I realized there was something we hadn’t thought about, Chelsea—though her ability to manipulate relationships didn’t allow her to visualize ties like Marcus could—was able to sense that something was wrong between the two of them by the feeling they gave away.

“Chelsea.” Carlisle called breaking her concentration as she tried to read the couple in front of her no avail. “What a surprise. To what do we owe the pleasure?” He asked with an edge to his tone as, unlike Bella, he wasn’t a stranger to the feelings this particular member of the guard had towards his wife.

“I just came to deliver an urgent letter.”

“Isn’t it Demetri’s job to deliver important messages? After all, he is the tracker.” He asked surprised as he wondered in his mind as to why the change of messenger.

“Demetri was unavailable at the moment, I wasn’t provided with more details but I’m sure The Kings had explained everything in the letter.” She said pointing to the envelope that still waited between them.

Finally, Bella retook the black piece of paper and broke the seal before taking out a sheet and unfolding it.

_Volterra, 3rd of January, 2091._

_To our dearest Carlisle and Bella Cullen._

_We hope to find you well. Hereby we ask both of you to follow Chelsea back to the Old Continent. We apologize for summoning you in such short notice; nevertheless the matter we now have on our hands makes your presence of utter importance as its unexpected nature has rendered us in need of both of your medical expertise._

_We hope you don’t mind if we save the complete explanation until we see each other again in person._

_Safe traveling._

_Aro, Marcus and Caius._

“When are we supposed to be leaving?” Bella asked breaking the silence as Carlisle’s mind ran through diverse possible explanations for the cryptic message.

“As soon as possible.” Chelsea answered. “The plane will be ready shortly after I make the call.”

“Very well,” Carlisle said. “We’ll go pack some things and make the necessary arrangements on our part.” He added as him and Bella stood up and began walking to the stairs while he was still contemplating what could’ve possibly have happened that required their presence for the letter offered no concrete explanation. As they reached his office, Bella dropped her shield to ask me to look through Chelsea’s mind in case there was something she wasn’t saying, so I tried to make small talk as an excuse to spend some time with her.

In the meantime, Bella and Carlisle entered his office where she sat in front of his desk with a pen on her hand as she looked for a blank piece of paper she could use before he walked to the other side to grab a spare notebook from one of the drawers.

 _Do you have any idea of what is happening?_ She wrote, clearly not wanting Chelsea to hear them talking. He shook his head. _It’s suspicious, the letter didn’t explain anything and she doesn’t seem to have any more information, at least that’s what she said._

 _I agree the letter is anything but common, do you think there’s some sort of danger?_ Carlisle asked.

 _Like a trap?_ Bella asked and Carlisle nodded. _But why?_ she asked whilst still deep in thought.

 _Edward_. Carlisle called to me in his thoughts so I excuse myself before walking to my office and talking the seat next to my mother. _Is Chelsea hiding something?_ He asked and I shook my head.

Next, I heard Bella’s thoughts asking me if Alice had have another vision so I took the notebook from where it rested on the table and wrote. _Alice still hasn’t have a clear vision, yet she doesn’t think any of you are in danger as she does see you coming back, there’s just no timeframe_.I wrote as I singled out my sister’s mind where I saw a vision of Bella and Carlisle arriving back home, but there was something more, they looked happy as they walked into the house hand in hand.

Carlisle sighed after he read my answer, and thought the circumstances where less than ideal, both Bella and him knew they had to follow what little instructions were sent to them; so standing up again, he disposed to go make his suitcase but was stopped by Bella who broke the silence.

“You still need to call the hospital, I’ll pack your bag, I supposed they won’t be too happy with you leaving so unexpectedly so you might have to spend some time convincing them.”

“Thank you.” He said. “I haven’t even thought about that, what we’re going to do? None of the kids are 18 according to our story.”

“We can ask Carmen and Eleazar to ‘watch us’.” Alice said coming into the room. “They’ll agree.”

“I suppose you already saw that?”

She nodded happy. “ _That_ , I can see.”

“Well then, I’ll call the hospital and then I’ll ask Eleazar to come here. Alice, I know you haven’t been able to have clear visions of us but is there something you can tell me about how long I need to be absent?” Carlisle asked.

We saw her concentrating but the images were just as blurry as they have been so she furrowed her brows and she shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t see anything though I think a couple of weeks at least.”

Bella’s POV

I left Carlisle’s office with Alice and Edward—both of which went back to the living room to keep Chelsea company—and went straight to my room to pack my suitcase. As we weren’t told exactly what to expect, I packed a couple of jeans and shirts and some more formal wear like a pencil skirt and a black dress, as well as some sneakers and heels, in a similar fashion I picked both formal and casual clothing for Carlisle before finally packing our robes and our Volturi pendants.

As I heard Carlisle was still talking on the phone with his boss, after arranging my purse where I packed my essentials along with my electronics, I decided to prepare his briefcase so I went back to his office to pick his belongings except his iPad as he was downloading his medical library.

“Ready?” I asked after I was finished and he nodded.

“Let’s go.”

As I was about to grab my suitcase, Emmett came out of his room and offered to take mine as well as his father’s bags to the car Chelsea had rented to get here, and just as we reached the bottom floor I saw all our kids standing in the living room.

“I just made the call, we’ll be ready for departure the moment we get in the plane. I’ll be on the car.” Chelsea explained before bidding goodbye to our kids and exiting the house.

As we were all alone again, everyone surrounded us as we said our goodbyes for an undetermined amount of time. “Alice, I know you haven’t been having clear visions but I trust you’ll keep an eye out for anything that might happen.” I said looking at her.

“Of course.” She said though clearly she was just as nervous as everyone else given that we didn’t know what to expect from this trip.

“Rose is in charge until we return.” Carlisle said. “We don’t want to come back to a burnt kitchen again.” He said pointedly looking at Emmett.

“It was one time!” Emmett whined causing us to chuckle.

“And it was one too many.” Carlisle said still looking at him. “Anyways, thought we hope there’s no need, I called Eleazar to explain your mother and I will be gone for a while, so in case our cover story needs it, call him or Carmen and they’ll come to pose as your uncle and aunt.” He explained and they nodded.

“We’ll be in touch.” I added hoping to alleviate everyone’s nerves. “Jasper,” I called specifically to him as I knew his upbringing made him specially susceptible to being anxious as we were paired against a situation where he didn’t have all the information; furthermore, his ability didn’t help as he was feeling everyone’s worry. “We’ll be fine.” I said hugging him tightly and smiled as he nodded and hugged me back.

“Family hug!” Emmett declared excitedly as he push everyone together.

“We’ll call once we can.” Carlisle said after we walked to the door. “Goodbye everyone.”

“Bye, take care.” They all said as they wave and we walked to the car.

As Chelsea predicted, when we arrived to the airport, we were received by a woman who escorted us through security and to a private jet after someone else took the car away and two flight assistants carried our suitcases.

The three of us walked into the small plane after the two individuals—who kept to themselves through the flight—and sat in three of the four seats that were arranged together and facing each other, with Carlisle by my side and Chelsea in front of me. We were making small talk as the pilot made the necessary preparations; all the while Carlisle had my hand in his except the seconds it took us to fastened our seatbelts, after which he retook it and softly kissed it just as the pilot announced he was ready for take off.

Though most of the trip was uneventful, it was obvious that the uncertainty of the situation bother Carlisle and I; furthermore, though we had silently decided to present ourselves as the couple we usually were, as we sat together and looked at each other we knew we wouldn’t be able to keep the pretense up as eventually Aro and Marcus would know there was something wrong between us thanks to their abilities, yet we hoped they would keep that information to themselves and not make any comments about it.

As the pilot announced we had passed the 10,000 ft of altitude, Chelsea excused herself before moving to one of the seats that surrounded a conference table behind us, there she took out a laptop in which she spent the next couple of hours. In the meantime, both Carlisle and I walked to the back of the plane right before the private chamber where the ‘living room’ of the jet was and we sat on one of the couches whilst we occupied ourselves reading.

“I’m sorry, I was just finishing making some arrangements for our arrival.” Chelsea said joining us after a while.

“Is there a problem?” Carlisle asked.

“Not at all, just making sure everything will be ready for us and coordinating everything to avoid sunlight.” She explained before she changed the subject to something not work related.

For the first few hours after Chelsea joined us, we talked a little more about whatever had been happening in Volterra since the last time Carlisle and I had been there after World War II, all the while, Carlisle kept his participation in said conversation to succinct and rather cold answers while maintaining slight physical contact with me as he intertwined his fingers with mine.

At some point his cellphone rang and he excused himself as he stood to answer, walking into the private room behind the door, not because he didn’t want to be heard, as our vampiric senses made privacy in this closed space impossible, but because he deemed rude to pick up while Chelsea and I were talking.

As such, while Carlisle answer a call from the hospital to ask about a case he had been in charge of, Chelsea and I kept chatting about this and that.

“How I’ve missed our talks, it’s been wonderful to spend time with you, almost everyone in Volterra seems to avoid me as they are unsure of when I use my powers on them.”

“In that case maybe Carlisle and I should travel more often to Italy.” I proposed amicably.

“That would be marvelous, I’d love to spend more time with you, Isabella.” She said as she rested her hand on my knee.

At the same time I heard the door to the room beside us open and I tuned to watch as Carlisle came out and before I had the time to answer to Chelsea and remind her my preference to the hypocorism of my name, he quickly resumed his place at my side on the couch and I felt his arm snaking around my waist previously to him suddenly pulling me onto his lap.

“Bella.” Carlisle corrected her for me. “I think my wife has made clear she prefers everyone to call her Bella instead of her full name and given the pride of the members of the Volturi Guard, one would think you know by now to respect the members of the court.” He snapped with uncharacteristic spite in his voice which left both Chelsea speechless for a second.

“I... I’m sorry, please accept my apologies.” She said bowing her head after the initial shock wore off.

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it.” I answered as I tried to defuse the situation. “Anyways, we still have hours before we land, how about we play a board game?”

“Of course, I’ll go see what we have available on board.” Chelsea explained before she went to look through the cabinets for the board games.

As Carlisle and I were left alone in the living room section of the plane, I turned to look at him in disbelief of the attitude he displayed towards Chelsea moments before, something he seemed to realized himself the second our gazes crossed as he immediately put me back onto the couch. After he let go of me, I turned to look at him, mouthing my question as I asked him what had gotten into him before he apologized in the same silent manner while avoiding my eyes.

Fortunately, the rest of the flight was spent in peace and we played a couple rounds of Monopoly until the last half hour of the flight when we decided to change into more formal clothes instead of the jeans and t-shirts we were currently wearing; as such, we excused ourselves and took our luggage to the private room where Carlisle had gone earlier to answer the phone. We both placed our suitcases on the provided bed and searched for an ensemble to wear, finally I chose a form fitting emerald green dress Alice had fixed for me months ago but as I saw the thin straps of the garment I grabbed a long sleeved black t-shirt with a turtleneck to cover the scars on my neck. Finally, I paired it with black sheer tights and a pair of black heels.

“I’ll go to the bathroom to change.” Carlisle murmured as he grabbed a black suit and shirt.

“Huh?”

“So that you can get dress.”

“Oh, I... I don’t mind, I mean... It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before...”

“Are you sure? I can come back after you’re finished.” I just shrugged. “Ok... well, I’ll turn around then.” He said before placing his clothes on a chair and facing the wall as he too started to change, only facing me again when I asked him to zip me up.

Minutes later, the pilot’s voice sounded through the speakers announcing the start of our landing, causing Carlisle and I to take out of our suitcases our almost black cloaks and the pendants that signaled us as members of the Volturi before we returned to reading for a while as we went back to our initial seats for the landing after putting the game away.

“We’re here.” Chelsea said standing up after the plane stopped and the door was opened by one of the two flight assistants. In a similar fashion, Carlisle and I mimicked her and stood up before walking to the door after her

“Chelsea, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, welcome to Edinburg.” Said the man that greeted us right outside the plane, causing Carlisle and I to look at each other in confusion. “If you’ll follow me I’ll take you through customs and to the car that will take you to your destination.” He explained before turning around to show us the way.

“Chelsea, where are we going?” Carlisle asked with a slight note of apprehension in his voice as he tightly held my hand.

“Didn’t the letter explained? Aro decided to sort whatever issue there is outside of Volterra. We’re going to Dunrobin Castle, the kings acquired it in the late 1900, though they rarely use it.” She explained.

Just like the man had said, outside of the airport was a black Rolls Royce waiting for us and as they put our luggage in the trunk, they opened the door for Carlisle and I to sit in the back while Chelsea took the front seat besides the driver. All the while I could feel the unease in Carlisle—just as he probably felt mine—caused by the fact that the letter said so little that we didn’t knew what we were walking into; because of that, he kept his hold on me through the almost 4 hours of travel while we stood in silence absentmindedly looking out the windows.

“We are almost here.” Chelsea said as the castle came into view. “Someone will take your belongings to your chambers and as your presence is required immediately, someone will be waiting at the entrance to take you to The Thrones Room.” She finished explaining as the car came to a stop and the door was opened for us.

As Carlisle got out of the car first, he offered me his hand and I took it before I too exited the vehicle and as the doors of the castle were opened for us, I felt his arm tightly around my waist to keep me near him as we walked through them.

“Hello Carlisle, Bella.” Jane’s voice sounded as she walked through the corridor to meet us causing both of us to relax as we were welcomed by an old friend, though we still had a lot of questions in our minds.

“Jane. How are you? We haven’t seen you in a while.” I greeted her back. “We missed you the last time we were in Volterra”.

“Same old. I was busy dealing with a newborn army in Russia that time.” She simply said with a shrug. “I’m here to escort you to the kings, though it’s only Aro and Marcus, Caius remained in Volterra as to not leave the city alone.” She explained turning around and walking in front of us.

“Who else is here?” Carlisle asked genuinely curious.

“From the High Guard it’s just Renata, obviously, Chelsea, Demetri, Alec and I, the rest are members of the Guard and human workers the live here on a regular basis.”

“Did Sulpicia came here with Aro?” I asked.

“No, the travel was quite last minute and we don’t now how long we’ll be here though if our stay here extends, Aro might ask for her to come here.”

“Do you know the reasons for why we are here?” Carlisle wondered.

Jane shook her head, “I tend to not ask questions when I don’t need to know, I just know it’s something that involves Demetri but he hasn’t talk about it either, I guess you’ll be told briefly as you were summoned here.” She explained as we presumably reached The Thrones Room when she stop before closed doors which were opened by two guards.

The three of us walked inside with Jane in front of us, who vowed before announcing us to Aro and Marcus who were standing by a window discussing something in whispers while a couple other vampires mingled through the room. Just as our names left Jane’s lips, Aro and Marcus’ attention was drawn to us, causing everyone in the room to stop and mimic their action.

It seemed that, as per usual, Aro was going to be the first to address our arrival, jet he was beaten to it by Marcus who walked to me before embracing me tightly. “Hello dear, it’s been over a century science your last visit, how have you been?” He asked me as he kept my hands in his.

“We’ve been fine.” I said as convincingly as I could manage, offering a smile. “The family has grown, we have two more kids.” I added as he always asked about our children as well.

“That’s marvelous, you must tell me about them...”

“Marcus, let poor Bella breathe.” Aro said jokingly interrupting his brother. “She’s been here less than a minute and you’re already hogging her. Now, hello Bella, I hope you’ve been well and I apologize once again for the sudden summoning, I hope it didn’t caused you much trouble for your human pretenses.” He said as he kissed both of my cheeks. “Carlisle, old friend, I hope you too find yourself well, I apologize for Marcus behavior as he rudely took your wife from your arms moments ago.”

“Thank you, Aro. There’s no harm done, we all know how special Bella is to Marcus.”

“That’s true.” Aro answer with a chuckle, though as they talked in a friendly and lighthearted manner, I saw Marcus as he looked between Carlisle and I with a puzzled expression, concentrating as he tried to understand what he was surely seeing with his gift before he looked at me with a question in his eyes, causing me to avoid his gaze as I pretended I wasn’t aware of it.

At that moment Aro asked for Carlisle’s hand for he wished to see inside his mind and as he complied with his request, he turned to look at me with a look in his eyes that was letting me know he too was hoping Aro would just brush over the status of our relationship.

“Oh dear.” Aro exclaimed much to our misfortune. “If I’ve known that I would’ve arranged for separate accommodations.” He said out loud chuckling, causing Marcus to realize his suspicions where on the right track.

At the same time I was aware of the curiosity of several individuals in the room, as it was not hard to imagine what Aro was implying with his words, which caused some gasps and assessing glances our way, specifically towards Carlisle as it was no secret the amount of persons that had been interested in him since the first time he visited Volterra all the way back in the 18th century.

In response, I moved closer to Carlisle, who once more wrapped his arm tightly wound my waist. “That won’t be necessary.” I said.

“Very well. Forget I said anything.” Aro offered with a smile before changing the subject and excusing himself before asking us to follow him and Marcus to a private conference room where we sat at the provided table.

“I assume you’re going to explain the reason you brought us here? Your letter was much too cryptic.” Carlisle asked as we took our seats, his hand still not letting go of me.

Aro sighed and exchanged a look with Marcus before facing us again. “Yes, of course, though we would like to make you a couple of questions before.” We nodded. “Until recently, you two were the only long term couple we knew of that, for a while at least, consisted of a male vampire and a female human. Now, we apologize for the nature of the next question but you’ll understand later why we ask you this. When Bella was still human, did you two engaged in sexual intercourse?

As he finished his question both Carlisle and I stood dumbfounded and I knew that if possible we would both be ten shades of red at the moment. “I... I’m sorry but what does this has to do with the reason why we are here?” Carlisle finally said.

“We have a reason, you’ll understand in a moment but we would like you to answer.” Aro pressed.

“Well... yes.” I finally answered.

“Did you at any point had any symptoms that made you think you could’ve been pregnant?” Was his next question.

“No.” I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Are you sure? Do you think that if you continued being human and engaging in sexual activities with Carlisle, you could’ve ended up procreating?”

“No.” I said still not understanding the point of his questions.

“Aro, please, could you just explain what’s going on? Why are you asking these questions?” Carlisle interrupted clearly as uncomfortable as I was.

“Well, you see, we ask because it has come to our attention the existence of a human woman who at this very moment is carrying a human-vampire hybrid.”


	9. VII. Hybrid

Bella’s POV

“What?!” Carlisle and I asked in unison.

“How? Who? When?” Carlisle asked dumbfounded.

“Well, as a physician I would think you know the how...” Aro said trying to lighten the atmosphere but a look at Carlisle told him he wasn’t finding any of it funny.

“Aro, excuse my straightforwardness but first of all, why are we here?” I asked. “What does this pregnancy has to do with us being here?”

“Well, given the lack of information and the nature of this fetus, you’ll understand why we can’t allow the mother to receive care from a normal human hospital, we asked you to come here to act as their obstetricians.

“Truthfully, we couldn’t have a more prepared couple, Carlisle actively works as a doctor and you have trained as a nurse as well as completed med school.” Marcus Added.

I sighed and turned to look at Carlisle who was slumped on the chair he had taken. “How are we supposed to do this? We will need everything a hospital can provide and maybe other things because as you say, we don’t have records of this happening before.”

“There’s no need to worry about equipment, we’ll arrange for anything you need to be brought here, we have disposed a wing that’s connected to the bedroom that’s is occupied by the couple where you’ll be able to work, after your first assessment of the case you can write down anything you’ll need.” Aro explained before Marcus took over.

“You have all our resources to your disposition, if needed we can get some nurses from the castle’s clinic to be assigned to work under you for the time being.”

After they had explained, I remained in silence for a couple of seconds as I once more glanced at Carlisle who seemed to still be processing the information we had received, but finally I agreed, causing a wave of relief wash over Marcus and Aro’s faces who looked to be troubled by Carlisle’s attitude.

“Would you like to meet the future parents right now?” Aro asked.

“Could we have a few minutes first? We might need some things from our bags.” I questioned.

“Of course, dear.” Marcus answered before calling for someone to take us to our room. “When you’re ready press the blue bottom in the intercom of your room and someone will be there to take you to us, we’ll be in the library.”

“Thank you, we’ll be there promptly.” I answered as I stood up taking Carlisle’s hand and pulling him up with me when a woman knocked at the door to show us the way.

As I closed the door behind us when we entered our room, Carlisle walked to the bed and sat down without saying a word and I just stood there for a moment contemplating him.

“Hey.” I simply said sitting next to him before taking his hand, softly squeezing it before he turned to look at me.

“Hey.”

“So... How are you feeling?” I asked causing him to just look at me with his brows furrowed. “Carlisle, the reaction you just had it’s not normal, specially for you, you tend to be exited about new things to study; besides, did you forget I’ve spent over a century with you? I know you’ve always wanted to have a child of your own and that you thought that being a vampire made that an impossibility, I think I know you well enough to guess what you’re thinking.”

He sighed, thinking before acknowledging me. “I’m fine, I guess this just took me by surprise.” He said without sincerity, but when I was about to pry again he continued talking. “Really, I mean, you can’t say this isn’t surprising but I’m fine. Now, I think they want us to meet the couple, let’s go.” He added as he stood up, though as he tried to walk away in the direction of the door, I tightened my grip on his hand before I too left the bed and stood in front of him, looking him in the eyes.

“Really, I’m...” he tried to say once more.

“No, you’re not.” I interrupted. “You’re not fine. Carlisle, it doesn’t matter whatever is going on between us right now, I want you to know you can talk to me about this or anything else.”

“I know.” He finally murmured hanging his head after a couple of seconds passed in silence while we continued to look each other in the eyes for a moment before he broke contact.

I kept my eyes on him and as I saw him avoiding my gaze, I couldn’t help but worry about the way he was reacting to this matter, so I closed the space between us as I wrapped my arms around his waist causing him to tense.

“Thank you.” He whispered after relaxing against my body, wrapping with his arms around me answering the hug and resting his head on my shoulder. We stood like that for a while as I waited for him to end the embrace first.

“We haven’t called the kids.” He said as he straightened up.

“We can call them when we return, I’m sure Aro is probably sending someone to get us right this moment.” He huffed with little humor right when we heard a knock at the door. “What did I tell you, now, let’s go meet the parents.” I said with a sympathetic smile, once more taking his hand in mine as I led the way towards the door where a human man was waiting for Carlisle and I.

The man took us to the library where Marcus and Aro waited impatiently for us, already standing in the doorway when we reached them. Aro dismissed the human and immediately led us through a series of corridors until we arrive to the couple’s chambers.

“Just a moment.” A familiar voice called from inside after Aro knocked at the door. “Aro, Marcus.” Demetri greeted. “Bella, Carlisle! I’m so happy to see you two, I’m sorry for the sudden inconvenience.” He said as he hugged the both of us. “Please, come in.” He stepped aside to let us in to a small living room.

“Demetri, as you know, Bella and Carlisle are here to provide medical assistance to your mate.” Aro unnecessarily explained. “We’ll leave you to it. When you’re finished, provide us with the list of the necessary materials and equipment and we’ll take care of it.” He added before turning around to leave.

“Bella, dear, when you can, please visit me, I’ll be on my private library, you can ask someone to take you there, I would like you tell me all about the new additions to your family.” Marcus said before kissing both my cheeks and leaving behind his brother.

After they were gone and the door was closed, Demetri joined Carlisle and I again. “Well, this is quite a surprise.” I said breaking the silence.

“It definitely is, no one knew this was even possible.” He said. “I mean, we all thought you two had... consummated your relationship when you were still human.”

“We did, that’s why this is such a surprise.”

“Oh.” He simply exclaimed demonstrating the awkwardness of the atmosphere.

“Anyways, can you introduce us to your partner? We would like to talk to her.”

“Of course, please sit, I’ll go get her.” He explained and walked away, disappearing through a door that I guessed lead to the bedroom before returning moments later with a young woman in his arms.

“I can walk, you know.” She said as she pretended to be offended by his actions.

“I know, but I like taking care of you.” He said before kissing her nose and sitting her on one of the three chairs at the same table Carlisle and I were. “Bella, Carlisle, this is Penelope. Penelope, they are the couple I talked to you about, we hope they can take care of you and our baby, they both have centuries of practice in the medical field.”

“Hello Penelope, I’m Bella Cullen, this is my husband Carlisle. We won’t hurt you.” I added as I saw her apprehension.

“It’s okey baby, they really won’t hurt you, you can trust them, they would never hurt any human, they even feed on animal blood.” Demetri explained rubbing her back in a comforting manner and she nodded.

“I’m Penelope, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too. So, Penelope, this will be your first prenatal examination, though we both have experience treating human pregnancies, this is the first time any of us had heard of a hybrid fetus, therefore your experience will more likely than not be quite different from what any we have heard of. Firstly, though a woman usually has between 10 and 15 checkups when pregnant, you will have daily appointments as we need to monitor very closely the development of the baby and your reactions. Secondly, I’m sorry for the added discomfort we will probably cause you but you might be subjected to more tests than usual. Finally, before we start, we need you to tell us anything that you think might be wrong if there is such a thing, no matter how small you think it is, okey?”

She nodded and so I continued, now asking question like the basic how old are you and the date of her last period which turned out to be a little over a month and a half ago. “Now, I assume you have taken a pregnancy test, am I correct?”

“Yes, I bought two at a drugstore and both were positive.”

“Did you went to the hospital after that?” She shook her head. “Okey then, the first thing we would like to do is take a blood sample to confirm your pregnancy, Demetri, can you ask if the clinic you have in the castle offers blood test?”

He nodded before making a quick call. “They say that they do take the samples but they send them to an outside laboratory to analyze them.”

“I can do the analysis.” Carlisle finally spoke. “It’s better to keep everything as contained as possible, though I’ll need some equipment, I guess I’ll start the list of the necessities right away.”

“We’ll also need a sonogram machine as soon as possible and we should ask for everything we’ll need up to the delivery. Now,” I hesitated before continuing, turning to look at Carlisle whose facial expression told me he had considered the same thing as I. “I apologize for the next question but are you 100% sure that Demetri is the father of the baby?” I finally blurted causing Demetri to growl at me as he went into an offensive stance.

Immediately, Carlisle left his chair and stood protectively before me as he spoke trying to defuse the animosity that had been created in the room. “We’re sorry for the question but I think you understand the shock of the situation, after all, something like this is unheard of, so much so that until now even Marcus, Aro and Caius thought this was impossible.”

“Of course.” Demetri said through gritted teeth as he tried to calm himself down. “Please forgive my previous response.”

Carlisle nodded, sitting once more at my side as the atmosphere settled back down before we asked some more questions followed by Carlisle checking Penelope’s vitals as the conclusion to the first appointment.

“I’ll walk you to the door.” Demetri said after we excused ourselves at the end of the preliminary examination. “Before you leave, I would like to ask you to keep the pregnancy between us, I asked the same from the kings, that’s why the rest of the guard doesn’t know anything about this.”

“Of course.” We said.

“May I ask why?” Carlisle wondered.

“I know that she’s happy about this, she too thought she would never be able to have kids, in fact we weren’t planing on having sexual relations before her transformation but she wanted to wait a couple of years so that her physical age was the same as mine and I can’t deny we wanted to be physical so we tried it and now she’s pregnant, but I don’t want to lie to myself, I know that there’s a possibility that the pregnancy could be dangerous to her or that the baby will be too much like an immortal child and we all know that’s not something that can be allowed by The Voulturi.”

“You worry someone would try to harm your mate if the rumors start roaming around.” I concluded.

“Yes, therefore, I would like to keep this as secret as possible, at least until we know more about it.” We nodded as we understood his preoccupations.

“May we communicate this matter to our family? We have a new member that might be helpful in keeping an eye on your partner.” Carlisle said.

“If you think it’ll help her, then you have my permission, I trust the news won’t travel further than your coven.”

“Of course not.” I assured him.

He nodded, looking troubled as he addressed us again. “One more thing... I can’t loose her.” He added with a silent pled in his eyes.

“We understand, we’ll try to do what’s best for her.” I answered trying to convey as much empathy as possible before we walked through the door to leave the couple to their own.

After we said our goodbyes to them, we made our way back to our rooms where I decided to sit on a loveseat that was arranged next to an burning fireplace while Carlisle wrote down all the equipment and material we would need all through Penelope’s pregnancy so that Aro and Marcus could purchase them as soon as possible. I waited for him to finished and when he sealed the letter I walked to his side and took it from him.

“I’ll deliver this to Marcus when I visit him later today. Do you want to call the kids now?” He nodded and so I took out my phone ready to dial Rose who we left in charge. “Were you planning on telling _all_ the kids about why we are here?”

“Do you think it’s wise? We know they would never do anything to put in danger the life of the mother or the child; and depending on the characteristics of the fetus we might need more help of the vampiric kind, our kids are more accustomed to humans and human blood than any of the Volturi. In any case, as I proposed before, if Alice knows what we’re dealing with, she might be able to have clearer visions again, that would help us to keep an eye on the development of the pregnancy.”

“I know, and I agree with you on that; but I was thinking about Rose.” I said, remembering about one of her main reasons to dislike her existence as a vampire.

“Well, we can talk first to Alice and Edward, given that he will probably catch something on her mind, and after we know more, we’ll talk to the rest of the kids.” I nodded in agreement before scrolling on the screen on my phone until I reached Edward’s number, sitting back on the loveseat as I hit the option to sent him a message.

 _Hello dear, you father and I are ok, we’ve arrived safely and have spoken with Aro and Marcus. There’s nothing to worry about but we would like to speak to you and Alice alone._ I wrote before hitting send.

We waited for a couple of seconds before my phone rang, displaying Edward’s name on the screen. “Mom, are you alright? How’s Carlisle?”

“We’re fine, your father is here.” I said before putting the call on speaker, knowing Carlisle could listen to the conversation perfectly fine but still doing it so that he didn’t feel he was eavesdropping.

“Do you know now why you were summoned? Alice still hasn’t have clear visions.”

“Yes, Marcus and Aro spoke to us the moment we arrived.”

“Marcus and Aro? What about Caius? Is something wrong?”

“No, the three of them are fine; you see, when they called for us, they didn’t tell us we would be traveling to Scotland, Caius remained in Volterra while Aro and Marcus are here in Dunrobin Castle.”

“Why are they in Scotland?”

“That has to do with the reason we’re here.” I said.

“Is Alice there?” Carlisle asked before any of us continued.

“Hi!” Alice’s cheery voice sounded through the phone. “Do you know why I’ve been having trouble with my visions?” She asked half exited and half with her pouting voice causing us to chuckle.

“Well, we have some information that might be related to the problem.” Carlisle answered. “Are two away from your siblings’ hearing range?”

“Yes.” They both answer.

“Well, you see, we’re in Scotland because it seems that Demetri recently found his mate here and we are to provide medical attention to her.” Carlisle started explaining.

“Why?” They both asked confused.

“They can just turn her if she’s critically ill, or are they not going to transform her against her will?” Edward added with incredulity.

“It’s not that.” I said taking over. “It seems that this woman is pregnant... with Demetri’s child.”

“What?” They spoke in unison once more.

“Is that even possible?”

“And what does this have to do with my visions?”

“Apparently.” I said answering to Edward.

“Well, remember what we theorized about the reason for you not being able to see the wolves?” Carlisle spoke to Alice. “Well as you clearly are not a hybrid, that’s why you might be having trouble with your visions, though we also hope that now that you know what you’re dealing with, you might be able to look around the baby, anything you can see might be of great help.”

“I guess that sounds possible.” She said as she was considering her fathers words in her mind. “I’ll see what I can do.” She added with her usual lively tone. “Though it might help if I meet the woman.”

“We’ll see if that can be arranged. And please keep this between you two.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you, and please keep us updated if there’s a clear vision. We’ll do the same in case there’s something to report. We’ll call again to talk to your siblings too.”

“Goodbye.” Carlisle and I said.

“Sure. Bye!” Was Alice’s farewell in her upbeat voice.

“Goodbye.” Was Edward’s more sober tone before the call ended.

As I had said, we called again a couple of minutes latter to Rose’s phone to talk to our five children together, a call that took a bit longer as we spent some time calming everyone in relation to our reason for being here, not giving much details but assuring them we were fine and there was nothing to worry about. In that call we also took some time to talk about more lighthearted topics and to ask if they had had any problems given that all of Forks believed them to be underage. In the end we spend about half and hour talking before we said our goodbyes, leaving Carlisle and I to ourselves once more.

“Your know, you might want to tell the hospital to look for a replacement, I guess we’ll be here for a while.”

He sighed. “You’re right. You should probably talk to the University to tell them you won’t be able to attend.”

“I’ll send an email latter, right now I’m going to talk to Marcus.” I explained but not giving any sign of me leaving our rooms. “He knows something is up.” I simply said with dread in my tone.

“What do you mean?”

“Between us. When we arrived he looked at us confused, then when Aro made his comment, it strengthened his suspicion... I just don’t want to hear about it.”

In return, he smiled sympathetically at me and I sighed before calling for someone to lead me to Marcus’ library.

“Are you planning on going hunting soon?” Carlisle asked to kill the silence as I waited.

“Yes, I haven’t gone since right after Christmas when we went looking for our ‘Christmas dinner’; I was thinking on going tonight.”

“May I accompany you? I was planning on going soon.”

“Sure,” I answered before someone knocked on our door. “I’ll see you here after sundown, I’d like to change clothes, heels and a tight dress are not the best attire to run thought the woods.”

“Of course, see you later.”

“Bye.” I said before exiting the room to see a woman who after a small bow asked me to follow her. We walked trough a couple of corridors that led us through the private rooms of the castle that were even more desolated than in Italy, causing the building to look as depleted of life as most of their inhabitants. It was clear The Kings didn’t occupied this edifice for unlike the one in Volterra, it lacked the decorations and business I was used to when I visited them.

After some more turns, we arrived in front a closed entrance, and after the woman knocked on the door, I heard Marcus voice calling us to enter; she opened the door for me and after a polite nod, she turned around and closed the door behind her as she left.

“Hello, Darling.” Marcus called closing the book he had been reading and putting it down on the side table, he stood up from his seat near the window to greet me once more with a hug. “Please sit.” He said offering the armchair in front of his.

“Thank you, how’s everyone been? I haven’t been in Volterra in a while.”

“You know, the usual, we don’t have much change, aside from Demetri’s mate, there’s nothing new, Caius sends his salutations but that’s all. Now enough about me, unlike us, your family is always changing, so tell me, how have you been? I most curious about the new additions to your family.”

“I’ve been fine, nothing new. I was planning on pursuing another degree but now that we will probably be here for some months I guess I’ll have to postpone that idea.”

“I’m sorry to have impaired your plans but we didn’t have a lot of options, your family is still unique in this matter.”

“I know, it’s ok, I have all the time in the world to go back to school.” I said with a shrug as I disposed to continue with the topic of Alice and Jasper before he could ask anything else. “So, we now have two more kids, Alice and Jasper, they have been with us since 1950. Alice can see the future depending on the choices she or someone else makes and Jasper is an empath, he can sense and influence the emotions of everyone around him.”

“That’s marvelous, to be able to see things before they happen and to influence those around you, did they show any signs of their gifts as humans?”

“Jasper says he was very good with people as a human but we are not sure about Alice; we didn’t transformed them and she doesn’t know who bit her, she also can’t remember anything from her human life and Jasper was transformed by Maria from the Southern Wars. They found us, they met us when we return to America after the last time we visited Volterra. Imagine our surprise when one day when Edward and Emmett where away hunting, a small girl with black spiky hair and a boy covered in battle scars arrived at our door greeting us by our names and asking where their room was going to be.” I retold laughing as I remembered that day clear as day. “Obviously we were quite taken aback and confused, the little girl in front of us seemed to know everything about us and though the boy screamed danger with his appearance, there was a calming sensation all around us. Furthermore after the initial shock and when we welcomed inside, she went directly to Edward’s room and reclaimed it as theirs, our son was so confused when he came back to all of his stuff in another room.” 

“I hope his reaction didn’t cause much trouble.”

“No, both Carlisle and I when to meet them when they were returning from their hunt to explain the situation, plus, Alice’s enthusiasm is very contagious, and when Edward saw her he was able to read her mind and he understood, he was a bit annoyed at us for giving his room away but mostly surprised about the situations, that’s all; though we didn’t gave his room away, she just took it!

“Emmett was our biggest concern, being the youngest and the most impulsive, we didn’t know how he was going to react seeing Jasper but he was happy to have another brother.”

“I wonder what compelled them to join you, I suppose they follow the same diet as you?”

“They do. Well, according to what Alice told us, after she woke up when the transformation was finished, the second thing she saw was her and Jasper living with us, she said that it didn’t matter what choices she made, that vision was always clear so she didn’t questioned it; for Jasper on the other hand, at first I think it was to make his mate happy but as he started to try feeding on animal blood, he said he felt lighter as he didn’t have to deal with the emotions that he sensed from the persons he killed as he used to feed on humans before, so he stuck to our diet.”

“Well, I hope I can meet them some day, I have only met Edward in person.”

“Of course, though Jasper might be a bit apprehensive about traveling to Volterra, he knows what happened to the armies from the South.”

“He has nothing to worry about, he’s part of your coven now and if he hasn’t broken the rules or caused any trouble since then, we can forget his origins.

“Changing the topic.” He said and I internally cringed as I suspected what he wanted to talk about. “I couldn’t help but see the link you share with your husband when you arrived, I wonder what happened.” He asked as I refused to held his gaze.

“Nothing happened.” I said with fake innocence.

“Isabella,” he called using my whole name as he tend to use when he took the paternal roll with me. “Since the day I met you, yours and Carlisle’s relationship showed me one of the brightest treads I’ve ever seen, right now it seems... fuzzy, for a lack of a better term, and if we add Aro’s remark back in The Thrones Room, well, you know I’ve come to care for you a great deal so naturally I worry about you.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, it was only a minor inconvenience.” I simply answered refusing to offer details of the situation.

“My dear, both of you seem... different, are you sure there’s nothing you’d like to talk about?”

“Nope.” Was my succinct response. “I assure you we’re ok, we recently had a bit of a fight, I guess we still need some time to ourselves. Maybe having so many kids really takes a toll on a marriage.” I commented failing to bring some humor on the subject.

“A small fight doesn’t change the thread that links two persons...”

“Well, I don’t know.” I interrupted. “But we are fine.” I simply said in a way that denoted I wasn’t going to go further into details, looking through the window as I felt Marcus’ unconvinced gazed on me.

Gratefully, the rest of the evening was spent discussing lighthearted topics like the books that had specially caught our attention or what degree I had planned on pursing this time, I talked some more of the kids and even mentioned a couple of things Carlisle and I had done recently, like our visit to the Christmas market or the masquerade, obviously leaving out the more unpleasant aspects; but as night fell, I excused my self as I had planned to go hunting.

“Before I go, here’s the list of things we’ll be needing to care for Penelope and her pregnancy.” I said handing the paper I had taken from Carlisle.

“I’ll make sure everything is arranged as soon as possible.”

“We hope so, with how unheard of this is, we would like to monitor her as closely and as soon as possible.”

“Of course, I’ll go to Aro this instant.” He said as we both stood up from the seats we had been occupying for the last couple of hours. “Maybe we can arrange a game of chess later.”

“I’d like that.” I said honestly as he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug before kissing my cheeks once more as we exited the library.

3rd person POV

As Bella took the corridors that led her back to her chambers, Marcus went to look for his brother, finding him back in The Thrones Room discussing with Jane and Alec the news of a supposed rise in newborn armies in the same territories that had been in dispute all throughout the Southern Wars. As he entered, both twins bowed their heads and excuse themselves after Marcus asked a moment alone with Aro.

“Bella just gave me the list that details the equipment and material they’ll need.” He said handing the folded paper to the other king.

“Right, I guess we’ll have to deal with this ourselves.” Aro exclaimed as he walked to the conference room followed by Marcus, sitting at the table in the middle and opening the laptop in front of him.

It was unusual for any of the kings to place any kind of orders themselves as they usually had someone else deal with it; furthermore, they never used their real names when ordering something for they typically put the name of one of their fake companies as the recipient; yet, as they kept in secret the issue at hand, Aro searched for the required supplies and tools, asking for them to only be delivery to either Marcus or him personally. Thankfully their resources made the process much easier as well as allowing them to expedite the shipping. In the end, they expected to have all the necessities in no more than three or four days.

“Is there something you’d like to ask me?” Aro inquired as he saw Marcus lingering in the room after the original matter was settled.

“There is. I don’t usually care for whatever details you see when you touch someone but I wonder about Bella and Carlisle, their link looks different, I would like to know what happened, I tried talking to Bella about it but she just said nothing happened.”

Aro let out a small laugh. “Even after thousands of years you still manage to surprise me brother, you always chastise me for being nosy and yet here you are.” Marcus rolled his eyes. “But I’m sorry to disappoint you, you know I don’t disclose anything that is personal or non-vital, I think it’s rude to do so.” He said before walking away.

Somewhere else, as the company fulfilled an urgent order that was to be shipped to Dunrobin Castle in Scotland, the person in charge was surprised to see the purchase under the name of Volturi; for though someone else could give no more thought to the name other than how unusual it was, it was a name than could be recognized by a specific kind of individual, an individual that was curious as to why the kings of the vampire world could be urgently asking for everything that could be needed to take care of a pregnant woman.

As such, as everything was processed and packaged ready to ship, the woman decided to personally deliver the order, so she opened the web browser on the computer in front of her and purchased a one way ticket to Edinburg before she stood up from her desk and took her handbag, she then made her way to her home where she quickly packed her carry-on suitcase, making sure she had al the documents needed as well as her plane ticked on her phone before calling a taxi to take her to the airport where she has to wait for a couple of hours before boarding. As she had left her office quite unexpectedly, she spent the whole flight attending to other job-related matters, only shutting her laptop off when the flight attendant indicated as they prepared to land. Putting her electronic device back into her bag, she took the opportunity to grab her brush to untangle her hair, and as the captain called the altitude now at lower than 10,000 ft, the woman carelessly combed it through her caramel locks.


	10. VIII. A Talk and a Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really happy with how this chapter turned out, specially the second part so I hope y'all enjoy it too.

Carlisle’s POV

Just as Bella left through the door, I went into the bedroom to see our luggage waiting for us in front of the bed, so to kill some time, I decided to unpack. First I grabbed my suitcase and placed it over the bed, opening it to see once more all of its contents neatly organized before taking them out and placing them inside the walk in closet. In comparison, as I opened Bella’s bag I saw all of her belongings shoved inside without rhyme or reason, showing the messiness that always characterized her when she was dealing with her own things, causing a warm feeling to envelope me as I realized she had taken the time to fold my clothes, making sure they didn’t get wrinkled or dirty as they had to share space with to the rest of my belongings, putting my shoes in bags before precisely laying them inside.

After I hanged the last of her dresses and placed her shoes on the designated place of the closet, I stood near the door looking at the small quantity of clothing we had brought; realizing we would be needing to expand our wardrobe, I sighed before once more calling Alice.

“Hi!” Was her greeting, enthusiastic as always.

“Hello dear, I wanted to ask you a favor, as it seems your mother and I will be spending more time in Scotland than what we had expected, I’d like you to buy some more pieces of clothing for us.” I explained a bit apprehensive in the end as I imagined my credit card’s bill at the end of her shopping spree at the same time that I heard a squeal that seemed to indicate her excitement. “But please, try to not go overboard.” I added, causing me to hear a laugh in the background.

“Good luck with that.” Rose’s voice came through the phone. “Hey!” she exclaimed after the sound of something being thrown. “Dad, Alice is throwing things at me!”

“Rose is being mean, she’s making fun of me!”

“Girls, stop fighting.” I said after a chuckle. “Alice, don’t throw thing at your sister. Rose, don’t make fun of Alice.”

“I wasn’t making fun of her, I was just stating the truth.” She added matter of factly. “I mean, when have you seen her control herself when she is let loose in a shopping center.”

“I can control myself! I just choose not to.” Alice argued nonchalantly causing me to sigh.

“You two are taking advantage of your mother and I being away, but I can still cancel your credit cards from here.”

“Fine, we’re sorry.” They apologized in unison.

“Good. Now, Alice, try to buy just the basics and maybe some winter clothes, I don’t know if we’ll be leaving the castle but we might need to pass for human at some point, I’ll send you the shipping details in a moment. Take care, little lady, you too princess.” I added for Rose.

“Bye dad.” Both girls said at the same time.

After the call ended, I quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to be ready for Bella’s return, forgoing my shoes for a while, I went back to the living room where I called someone to ask for the exact address and any necessary directions so that Alice could send the purchases to us, then, I sat down on the couch while I answered some emails that wondered about some of the patients I’d been taking care of back in Forks. As I finished, I remembered I should probably contact my boss to let him know he would be needing to hire a replacement for me, but the more I thought about what my excuse would be, the more I realized we would probably need to alter our façade, as it wouldn’t be ok to leave a bunch of teens alone for God knows how many months; so in the end I decided to wait until I could discuss the subject with Bella.

Therefore, I decided to lay for a while on the bed as I spent the next couple of hours going through a medical journal on pregnancy—as it wasn’t something I wasn’t used to deal with in the ER—until I heard Bella’s characteristic walk approaching the room, so I got up to open the door for her.

“Oh, thanks.” She said startled as she already had her hand on the doorknob.

“You’re welcome.”

“Let me just change quickly, I’ll be ready in a minute.” She explained heading straight to the bedroom.

“Ok. I took the liberty to put all of your things in the closet. Also, as it looks like we’ll be here several months, I asked Alice to buy us some more things.” I explained causing her to look at me incredulously.

“Do you think that was a good idea? Alice is going to hurt your bank account.” She added humorously.

“I... asked her to control herself.” I said unconvinced as I knew how futile my comment was; in response, Bella just shook her head, stoping for a moment as she caught sight of what I was reading before her arrival before continuing on her way.

“Are you feeling better?” She asked genuinely concerned.

I smiled at her worry for me. “I am.” I answered walking behind her.

“That’s good.” She answer with a half smile that copied my own. “Can you unzip me, please.” She asked turning her back to me. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” I answered as I went back to where I had been sitting on the bed.

She then went back into the closet where I heard the sound of clothes being removed and put on again before she came back out on a simple pair of black leggings, a t-shirt and a jacket.

“Here.” She said tossing me my sneakers.

“Thank you.” I said after catching them.

“No problem.” She said mimicking my own response while putting her hair in a ponytail and as she combed her fingers through her hair I couldn’t help but look at her. It didn’t matter that her actions were so simple, I was unable to look away from her as I missed being that close, or the moments we would spent together doing meaningless tasks like the old married couple that we used to be. The simple things she would do like her fold my clothes caused a warm fuzzy feeling inside of me as I thought about us being that way again, but just as powerfully as that sensation surged, melancholy took over me when I saw the scars on her neck, a forever reminder of the ways I have failed her; so instead of the hope I could probably have felt as caused by the little details that showed me how—for some reason—she still cared about me, I couldn’t help to think that mo matter how our lives used to be or how much I wanted them to be again, she would at some point realize she was meant to have someone better.

“Ready?” She asked ripping me out of my thoughts.

I nodded, trying to push the sadness away. “Lead the way.” I said standing up.

Though we never visited Dunrobin Castle before, the Scottish Highlands weren’t new to us, so we knew our way around; as such we had no trouble finding our path when we left the castle and started running through the woods in search for our prey. Though on the outskirts of the forest we passed were hidden hares and other small mammals, we decided to go deeper in search for something bigger, so we kept running for about 20 minutes until we found a herd of red deers that was being stalked at the same time by a lynx.

As we have discovered centuries ago, carnivore’s blood was infinitely better tasting than herbivores’ so we never passed the chance whenever we could hunt one of them. “I’ll take a deer, you take the lynx.” I proposed.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

I nodded and with that we both lunged at our intended prey. As usual, the deer posed no challenge to me but as I finished drinking from the one I had caught, I turned to see that Bella was no longer by my side, instead I could hear her meters away, my view obstructed by foliage.

“Stupid lynx.” She mutter to herself as she walked back to where I stood. “No so fast now, are you?” She kept going as she carried a passed out animal on her shoulder, forest debris stuck to her clothes and hair, making it impossible for me to hold my chuckle back.

“Slippery?” I asked amused.

“Almost, he sensed me the second I jumped, I couldn’t change direction mid air so he had about two seconds of advantage." She explained.

“Why did you knocked him out?” I asked now confused.

“Oh, I... I thought we could share...” She explained shyly.

I stood there taken aback by her proposition. “A lynx is a small animal.” I said smiling as I walked to her side. “I don’t mind if you take it for yourself.”

She shrugged. “I mean, if you don’t want to...”

“I’ll be happy to share it with you.” I replied, watching her lips slightly curl upwards, taking the animal from her and letting her bite first.

After we both drank from the lynx, we went looking for the rest of the herd that had gotten away as I killed one of its members and when I had satiated my thirst, I sat with my back against a tree. I waited for Bella to finish, seeing the way her hair hid her face from me as the elastic that had been holding her locks back had snapped at some point when she went after the lynx. As she savor the last drops of the deer’s blood, a sigh came out of her before she properly disposed of the body, finally sitting at my side when she was done.

“You have some leaves in your hair.” I said causing her to grunt softly as she started to comb it with her finger to feel her way through it looking for the pieces of forest. “Let me help you.” I offered, instinctively reaching for her hair, freezing for a second before continuing as I didn’t see any sing of her refusal.

“There.” I said as I combed my hand through her hair one last time and finding no resistanceto my fingers.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.

“So, how did it went with Marcus?” I asked curious.

“Well,” she started with a sigh as she threw her head back against the tree. “I didn’t say anything and yet, he _does_ knows that something happened between us.”

“Did Aro said something to him?”

“No, I don’t think so, he said he could see a difference in our thread.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I know he cares about me but I don’t feel like discussing this with him. He also said _we_ looked different.”

I huffed. “I guess my guilt betrays me.” I blurted out loud causing her to turn to me.

“Are we going there again?” She asked with annoyance in her voice. “Carlisle, I’ve told you multiple times, stop blaming yourself!”

“But it’s the truth! I was the one at fault! Why can’t you see that!”

“No, it wasn’t, we both know how strong the pull of a mating bond can be and we both denied it, I know you feel like you have to repent for breaking your promises to me but I though I had made it clear that I have forgiven you because I wanted to try again, but if you need to hear it again, I forgive you.”

“But how?” I whispered. “How can you forgive me after all I’ve done, the damned bond, me not being there to protect you from the wolves…”

“We’ve all made mistakes,” she interrupted. “Granted, some bigger than others, but what makes them equal is the fact that we can’t change them, we don’t have the human advantage of forgetting our past, the only thing we can do is try to make it hurt less as we accept and act on the consequences. Carlisle, forever is a long time to relive the errors and the pain.” She sighed before continuing. “I’ve said this before, I’m here because I want to, because I want us to work through this, but… I don’t see a way we can move pass it if you don’t forgive yourself first.”

“I don’t know how… It kills me to know how easy it was for you to reject the bond while I almost went through with it!”

“It wasn’t easy, I was terrified when it happened, I didn’t know what was going on, everything inside of me was yelling me to comply with the pull and I came so close to giving in.”

“Why did you stopped?”

“Why did _you_?”

“Because I love you.” I blurted as if it wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world.

“And do you think I had a different reason?” She questioned with hurt in her tone.

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Then how did you mean it? You know, Carlisle, sometimes I think you don’t see yourself clearly, you’ve spent so long conceiving yourself as a damned individual that you fail to see the good in you and everything around you.”

I sighed as I thought about her words. “I just… I just want everything to be fine again.” I said closing my eyes.

“Fine? Do you think I’m fine?” She said with humorless, almost desperate laugh. “I’m anything but fine, I know that there are a lot of things I need to work out with myself but that doesn’t change what I want between us.” She continued looking at me with intensity in her eyes as if she was trying to convey her emotions with her gaze. “And I hope you feel the same.” She added.

* * *

3rd person POV

She waited patiently in her seat, they had landed a couple of minutes ago and now she stayed put as passengers in the rows in front and behind her started to stand up—as if that action made the vacating process faster—; she was always one of the last to leave for she hated the commotion that the anticipation of getting of a confined space caused the humans, but unlike them, she didn’t get uncomfortable or tired by sitting in the same position for prolonged periods of time. In the end, less than five individuals remained onboard aside from the crew, she finally stood up and reached for the overhead compartment where she had stored her suitcase, politely rejecting the help of a bit-too-friendly-for-comfort man that doubled her age—only physically, obviously—.

She followed the way that led her to customs. Standing in line, she prepared the necessary documents for her entrance to the United Kingdom, realizing she would soon need a new identity as she was now passing as almost nine years older than she really was. She stood there, waiting with the rest of the travelers for the line to move, and as she didn’t have nothing better to do, she started thinking where could she go next, she thought about Canada—she hadn’t been there since World War II—, she then thought about visiting a couple of friends, though almost everyone she knew was nomadic.

“Next.” A female voice called bringing her out of her reverie.

“Hello.” She greeted the officer handing her documents.

“Hello. Reason of your visit?”

“Business.”

“How long will you be staying?”

“A week.” She said, though in reality she had no idea.

“Welcome to Scotland, have a nice stay.” The officer said returning her papers.

Because she hadn’t checked any bags, she was able to quickly make her way through the the carrousels and immediately crossing the gates to where families and friends waited for their loved ones to arrive. Though paying no attention in particular to the crowd she encountered, a small fragment of her couldn’t help but yearn for the affection of a close friend, yet, as quickly as that thought came into her mind, she shook it away she walked to the exit where she could take a cab to her hotel.

After checking in, she took the elevator to her room and unpacked the little thing she had brought with her, and as she caught a glimpse of her reflection on one of the mirror in the room, she realized her eyes where a bit darker that usual. She thought of the last time she had gone hunting and realized it had been a day over two weeks instead of the one a half she usually waited between hunts, though not enough for the thirst to burn in her throat or even to be uncomfortable, she disliked when her eyes got darker than a rich caramel that mimicked the shade of her hair, so after donning some simple jeans and a spare t-shirt she didn’t care too much for, she went out, crossing the city of Edinburg until she reached the outskirts of the forest, where she could finally start running in search for her dinner.

It took her a little over an hour and a half to satisfy the thirst, not being too fuzzy with the animals she hunted. After returning to her room, she realized it was still quite early in the afternoon, so instead of staying in, she took a quick shower and got dress—deciding on a fitted purple dress—to enjoy the rest of the day out, so after adorning her eyes with a subtle makeup look and making sure her hair rested around her face in the soft curls she favored, she put on a plum shade of lipstick before taking her purse and walking out once more.

She walked through Edinburg’s most popular districts, as she had never visited this city before, but as she wasn’t interested in doing anything in particular, she simply decided to enter a bookstore she encountered, looking for something to read as in the hurry she left her home, she didn’t bring anything to occupy her time with.

After a little under an hour, she paid two titles that had caught her attention and made her way back into the streets that seemed busier that before as the people started to gather in the restaurants and bars to celebrate the start of the weekend. She thought about choosing one of the more popular nightclubs or maybe try a pub, she wouldn’t consume anything—not really—, but she could pretend to take part in the scene, yet, as she was more of the coffee shop kind of person, she went looking for an establishment she had come across previously as she wandered through the streets of Edinburg.

“Hey beautiful, where are you going?” A man called from behind her, making his two friends laugh as if his comment was the pinnacle of comedy.

In return, she roll her eyes in disgust as she kept walking without paying any attention to the men who started following her, blissfully unaware of the danger _she_ posed to them. She continued on her way, turning into emptier streets and the men laughed once more, probably thinking she was lost, yet, she moved with sure steps, not looking for a way to scape, but for a way to hide from any passerby. Finally she turned one last time to her right, as she couldn't hear any heartbeats in the alley, hiding in the shadows waiting for them to catch up to her.

She knew men like this, like Charles—her husband from her human life—, and just like him, she despised them. She waited for them to reach the middle of the lonely street, surprising them as she snapped the necks of two of the three in the blink of an eye, letting the bodies fall with an unceremonious thump, not paying any more attention to them as she approached the third individual before going for the kill, not drinking from him, as she much preferred her golden eyes.

 _He even look a little bit like Charles_. She thought eyeing his unshaven face and dirty brown hair. She saw the life draining from his eyes, he had stopped fighting a long time ago—at least to her standards—after the realization of her inhuman nature had hit him, it was improbable he knew with exactitude what she was—for popular culture didn’t portray vampires as they truly were—yet, his eyes showed he now knew there was something unnatural about her, something he should’ve sense earlier and maybe he wouldn’t have come to this if he had.

She relaxed her grip, letting go of his body, and as she saw the three remains at her feet, she felt no remorse. In reality she felt almost nothing. It wasn’t a surprise though, she hadn’t feel a lot in the last 70 years, like she had become desensitized to the world around her; she felt the thirst and, if she let it, she was sometimes overcome with melancholy and the longing for something—or... someone—she couldn’t have, yet she perceived the rest of the world in a haze.

She reached for her purse and took out a compact mirror and though the lack of light where she stood would’ve made it impossible for her to see herself if she had human eyes, the weak rays that reached the deserted street from a couple of meters away were more than enough for her to see her reflection. After making sure there was no stains on the fabric of her dress, she combed her fingers through her hair, making sure no strand was out of place before putting the mirror back where it had been resting all day long.

She grabbed the paper bag that held her books, momentarily resting on the pavement, and dusted the dirt off before walking back to a main street, retracing her steps until she found the intended coffee shop.

She ordered a simple cup of coffee, black, and went to seat at the back, she took one of the books she had bought and entertained herself reading, minutes passed and she realized she had been there for about an hour and a half, not paying attention to the establishment around her—which had been getting busier—as she immersed herself in her reading.

“Hi.” Greeted a timid voice. “I’m sorry to bother you but all the tables are full, do you mind if I take this seat.”

He wasn’t lying when he approached her, that she saw when she looked up from her book to see a slender man with blond hair in front of her. “Sure.” She answered before returning to her reading.

Some more minutes passed and she had sense him staring at her a couple of times, he blush slightly every time she caught him and turned his gaze back to whatever he was pretending he was doing instead of looking at her. At some point she realized she was half smiling though she wasn’t sure at what, maybe his nervousness amused her or maybe the fact he tried to pretend he wasn’t staring, in the end it didn’t matter.

She was now looking at him while he tried fruitlessly to concentrate on his own book. He seemed young, but the expression lines in his face gave away his real age, which according to her assessment was around 30, he was a good looking man and he seemed nice, so even though she knew her vampiric charms would make it impossible for him to refuse him, she still approached him as if she was human.

“What’s your book about?” She asked him. “Is it any good? It seems that you can’t concentrate on it for more than a couple of minutes at a time, it must be terribly boring.” She continued with a smile and a wink.

He was instantly flustered. “I... it’s just a stupid romance...” he tried to explain in almost a whisper. “It’s okay I guess. Ho... how about you?”

“Another stupid romance. I’m Lilian,” She introduced herself using the fake name she had ben using for the last nine years. “And you?”

“Carl.”

“So Carl, tell me, are you from around here?” He nodded. “Well, you see I’m here for a business trip and I’ve never been in Edinburg, what can you suggest I do for fun?” She asked combing her fingers through her hair in a feigned innocence act before reaching for his forearm that was resting on the table.

The poor man had no chance though it’s not like he wasn’t keen on the idea, she was beautiful—obviously—that he realized the moment he actually looked at her. She had a soft heart-shaped face and a gentle smile, her eyes were the most amazing golden color—he had never seen anything like that—, her hair fell around her face in soft curls creating a perfect frame in the shade that reminded him of caramel apples.

“So, how about we get out of here?” She pressed as he had been too caught up on her to answer her previous question.”

He swallowed as his face blushed furiously making her laugh. He cursed his body’s natural reaction as he tried to calm himself down. “Sure.” He accepted with a shy smile, standing up and offering her his hand.

She had had one night stands before, in reality, it was the only kind of relationship she had had in the last decades, because even though she was no longer human, she still felt the need every once in a while to pursue carnal pleasures. This wasn’t even the first time she had sex with a human man—it was easier to avoid reencountering a human than a vampire—, so now here she was in a random guy’s bed in the middle of a city she didn’t know.

He had fallen asleep a couple of hours ago and now she laid on his bed looking at the ceiling, covered only by a bedsheet. For over half a century she had tried to keep herself busy as much as she could, she had read and reread thousands of books, she had learned to sew, knitting, crocheting, painting, sculpting, and many others crafts, she got used to bring home her job—the companies she worked at always experienced the best years of productivity with her—, she traveled a lot, she went sightseeing almost every week; but every once in a while there would be a moment of nothingness when her reality overwhelmed her, and right now, in the middle of the night on a bed that wasn’t hers, one of those moments came to her.

The pain and anger of his rejection, she had been so close to get him, to have what everyone of their kind wanted, a mate, a person destined to be their literal soulmate, someone to spend eternity with, but no, he had to be a good man, he had to go back to his wife.

“Stupid bitch.” She mutter out loud causing Carl to stir a little. He looked at the man at her side again, he had his kind of blond hair and a somewhat similar name, she rolled her eyes. Being in this darkness didn’t help her, so she got up and got dressed before walking to the door. She stopped for a moment and looked around for a piece of paper to write a note, she excused herself for leaving so suddenly but she had business matters to attend quite early.

She walked through the empty streets of Edinburg with no hurry, not being able to avoid the thoughts she had been trying to keep away, she let herself mope for a while. Of course he was a good man, she thought continuing what had been on her mind moments before. She wondered about him, what would he be doing now, would he still be with his wife? Did she ever knew what almost happened? A part of her wished she did so maybe they wouldn’t be together anymore; it wouldn’t serve her any good but at least she could have the consolation that they were as miserable as her.

She finally reached her hotel and made her way to her room, she looked at the time and realized it was almost five in the morning, she had been walking for close to two hours. She decided to take a bath, staying in the water for as along as it remained warm, she dried her hair and put on some silk pajamas before getting into bed. She obviously wouldn’t sleep, but she liked to rest on the soft surface and after covering herself with the covers, she turned on the provided T.V. and watched some trashy reality shows.

A couple of hours passed and when the clock marked some minutes past seven she got up to get ready, she redid her hair and makeup, now choosing a classic black business suit with a pencil skirt, she put on some sheer black tights and black pumps. She vacated the room after gathering all her clothes and checked out of the hotel, donning a wool coat before calling a cab to take her to a car rental place. Now on her own vehicle, she proceeded to drive to where all the medical equipment in the inconspicuous brown boxes was waiting for her after it had cleared customs. Two men where finishing loading the boxes onto a trailer before they got into the front to drive behind her.

The drive was about four hours long, she could’ve made it in half the time but she had a human driver following her so she had to respect speed limits. She looked out of the windows as she left the city behind, taking in the scenery around her and thought that maybe somewhere in Scotland would be a good place for her to settle next.

She arrived at Dunrobin Castle a little past three in the afternoon and waited in front of the closed gates as she explained via the intercom who she was and the reasons for her visit, moments later the gates opened automatically and she continued through the driveway up to the main entrance where another vampire was waiting, a member of the High Guard that any vampire would recognize.

“Hello.” The male twin greeted not expecting to see another of his kind.

“Hi. I’m with Modus Laboratories, I came in person to make a delivery, I have strict instructions to only deliver them to the Kings.”

That specification confused him but non the less he nodded. “Aro and Marcus are busy with a meeting right now but they’ll be available soon. I assume the two humans are here to deliver whatever is it that you brought?.” She nodded. “I’ll send one of our human workers to guide them to a place they can rest, If you wish you can follow me inside, I’ll take you to the waiting room, you’ll be called once the kings are available.”

She thanked him and after telling the men in the truck to wait for some else, she followed Alec inside.


	11. IX. Unexpected Arrival

3rd person POV

As Alec had explained, after crossing the main door she was led through a long corridor before entering a simple room with couches and tables, all in all it looked like a common waiting room. It surprised her, she really expected something completely different, she had thought she would be presented with a regal room full golden and velvet ornamentations, maybe even in purple hues; instead, the walls of the room lacked decorations, they stood naked in their stone material, the couches and other pieces of furniture resembled the ones you would expect at the reception of an office building or the waiting room of a doctor’s office.

She walked around the small room, stoping to see through the windows that faced the gardens; she had seen them briefly as she drove up the driveway but in the car she could only see them partially, now when she looked at them with some added height and was able to appreciate all the different colors and shapes that formed the courtyard, they were beautiful, the blues and magentas that flourished in between the thousand shades of green.

“It seems the Kings will take longer that expected, you’re free to wander the castle’s public spaces if you so desire.” Jane’s voices sounded from the door instead of her brother’s. “The receptionist will be able to guide you wherever you desire to go, someone will go looking for you when the kings are ready to see you.”

In response, she tensed as the reputation of the female twin preceded her. “Thank you.” She finally answered with some reservation. Accustomed to that, Jane ignored her assumptions and nodded before turning around a vacating the room.

Just like she had been thinking, she asked to be led to the gardens, where she wandered as she took in all the scents and textures around her. She loved flowers and she had always wanted to have a garden but she had never gotten around to built one, though there really wasn’t a reason to plan big when she moved around so much.

She sat down on one of the benches that surrounded a fountain, just in time for when the sun made its way through the clouds. She was used to hiding from it as it was a clear giveaway of her inhuman nature, so she always enjoyed the moments she could feel the warm rays on her skin, no matter how brief they were, but even if she basked in the light every once in awhile, it was always hidden in the middle of the woods as she hunted, here, she felt liberated, she knew every human in service to the Volturi knew about vampires as well as to keep it a secret, so letting herself sparkle in a somewhat public space was more comfortable than what she would’ve expected.

She closed her eyes, clearing her mind as she took pleasure in the warmth of the light, inhaling the sweetness of the flowers around her. She thought about her near future, she knew she would need a new identity soon, maybe this time she could spend some time here in the Highlands or maybe in Volterra; she had never stepped foot in the Italian city but it’s beauty and opulence was well known between vampires. They could probably find something she could be useful for and as much as she enjoyed spending her time within human society, it would be nice to live without the necessity to hide from them for a while. She would need to ask the kings about her new plans after delivering the equipment, she thought to herself.

After a while, when the clouds hid the sun again, she stood up and walked to another point of the garden that had been uncharted for her moments before, taking in every scent, every color and every texture that surrounded her. She had always loved flowers, specially roses, they had always held an important place in her life because they reminded her of her family and her childhood. She remembered her father gifting her mother flowers almost every week. They weren’t anything special as they weren’t particularly wealthy, but every once in a while a new yellow rose would appear in the small vase her mother kept in the kitchen.

Since she was a little girl, she hope for the same kind of affection she had seen between her parents, she had hoped for love as the only reason to get married, she had wished for a yellow rose decorating her kitchen. Then, one day in 1949 she met Charles, he was five years older than her—who was 17 at the time they met—and at first it all seemed to belong in a fairy tale, in the end, it really was too good to be true and during the first year of their marriage, he started to show his true colors.

Charles would come home drunk almost every night, barely closing the door behind him before passing out in the living room until he could go to work and repeat his drunken stupor the next day. Those were the easiest days because the alcohol in his system didn’t allowed him to do much so she was able to sleep in some sort of dysfunctional peace.

The worst days were the ones when he would come home sober and in a bad mood—something that was numbed with the alcohol—, in the 50s it was called being a good wife, but now she new better than to call her that, he had raped her multiple times but the education of the time told her to be quiet, so that’s what she did, everyday she prayed he would come home so inebriated that he couldn’t stand up from the couch in the living room and away from her.

Then it got a little less bad as he started to cheat on her, it hurt her not because of her feelings for him, those were gone long before he started sleeping with other women, but because he didn’t falter to remind her what a nuisance she was to him. He would still hit her and yell at her, but at least he didn’t force himself on her anymore.

Then, one day she realized she was pregnant, it wasn’t her first pregnancy but as Charles didn’t want to have to feed more mouths, he had forced her to terminate the babies’ gestations more than a couple of times before. On the contrary to him, she always wanted to be a mother, she had wished for a big family like the one her parents had built with her and her three sisters and two brothers; so in an attempt to at least have some piece of the life she had hoped for all those years ago, she ran away. She thought about going to her sister Beth for help, she was the closest to her and there she could then figure what else she could do.

She waited for a time when Charles didn’t return from one of his mistresses’ homes and in the middle of the night she took whatever she could and ran away, she ran to the bus station where she purchased a one-way ticket away from her life in Columbus and got in the bus, falling asleep as the vehicle departed. She arrived to Pittsburg the next day at midday, where she immediately started walking to her sister’s house yet, it seemed happiness wasn’t in her destiny for the moment she crossed the street outside of the bus station she had arrived to, a driver too distracted to see through the windshield hit her before speeding off, leaving her broken on the road.

Someone at some point had gone and called for an ambulance for her, yet, the bleeding and damage had been so great that no one thought she could survive, so the doctors made the decision to take her directly to the hospital’s morgue. There, unbeknownst to everyone, worked a vampire who had taken the job as a janitor as a way to secure his food in a more ethical way, taking blood bags every once in a while. He was doing his round in the morgue where he saw a body not quite dead yet, her blood was still warm and her heart was still beating, he had heard the doctors, she wouldn’t make it, so he thought that ending her suffering was more of a gift. He walked up to her and sank his teeth on her neck, yet as he was almost done, he heard humans steps approaching—the nurses had contacted her sister as she had her identification in her purse—so thinking he had emptied her, he exited the room.

He hadn’t, obviously, as here she was now, the same vampire had noticed so when he heard whimpers from the morgue; yet, instead of killing her, he took her away, taking care of her all throughout her newborn year and a couple more. Daniel was the name of her creator, around her age physically, and they had become great friends, she reminded him of a sister he had had centuries ago and in return, she started seeing him as a brother too.

Back in the garden, she walked some more until she stood in front of a bush of white roses. For some random reason, white roses used to be her favorite flower since she was little, maybe because there used to be a bush of white roses in the school she used to teach at before getting married, and they reminded her of the laugh of the children that would play in the yard on their lunch break; so when she encountered him for the second time in the streets of Vancouver all those decades ago carrying a bouquet of white roses, she saw it as a sign, but no, those roses weren’t hers, they had been bought as a gift for his wife. She hated white roses now.

She walked away to another section, leaving behind the reminders of her pain and loneliness before encountering a massive oak like the once tried to climb before falling down and breaking a leg when she was 16 years old.

Previous to their encounter in that small record store in downtown Vancouver over 70 years ago, she had seen him before, all the way back when she was still human. That day in 1943 when she climbed the tree in her childhood’s home in Ithaca, she fell and broke her leg, so her mother took her to the hospital. World War II was still going and the doctors and nurses were always overwhelmed, overworked and had little supplies to treat patients, but her broken leg wasn’t something that could be cured at home, so there she was sitting in a chair in a cramped equivalent of an ER with dried tears still staining her face while she waited for someone to tend to her.

As she waited, she saw more critical patients come and go as nurses and doctors treated them; and then, just like in a scene of a cheesy romantic comedy, the most gorgeous man she had ever seen walked in, he was another doctor, but could easily outshine any actor she had ever seen. He didn’t treat her, which is probably why he didn’t recognize her years later, but she couldn’t even think of looking away from him; he was making his rounds taking care of other patients in the ER, and even in the chaotic environment of the hospital, he managed to give his undivided attention to every single one of the persons he talked to, every suture he made and wound he cleaned was done with care and perfection, while his coworkers were—understandably—rude thanks to the tiredness and stress of war times, he treated everyone with kindness, he smiled and tried to alleviate the pain of the injured or sick, he helped the nurses when he could and mourned the losses he couldn’t prevent.

She was instantly taken by him, the caring, kind, sublime doctor who she saw once in the frenzied ER of a hospital in Ithaca, it was like those scenes where the times stops while the rest of the world fell to pieces in The Second World War.

Someone else took care of her and late at night she and her mother returned home, never to see him again all through her human life; then it was like destiny was putting him infant of her that afternoon in Vancouver, _finally_ , she thought, finally something good was coming to her. When she saw him, when she felt the pull towards him she knew exactly what was happening, Daniel used to tell her stories of this, of two of their kind finding their eternal soulmate. She was elated, after all the pain she had endured she was finally finding happiness with the man she had fallen for all those years ago; and then, the illusion fell apart.

Indeed it was like destiny, like a cruel destiny that was only meant to hurt her even more. He was married.

“Excuse me ma’am, the King is ready to see you.” A boy that had still been a kid no long ago said from behind her effectively interrupting her thoughts. “Please follow me.” He added before turning around and leading the way.

They walked back through the garden, the same way she walked in her way in and along the same corridors until she reached the same waiting room she had been in before, though this time instead of staying in that room, the boy walked to a pair of big doors on the opposite side of the entrance and opened them in order to let her in, bowing before closing the doors behind her and walking away.

Only Aro was occupying his respective seat out of the three that were displayed, with Renata behind him as usual while the twins stood on the side of the room. To say he was surprised was an understatement, he knew who she was, obviously, as he had seen her in Carlisle’s memory the day he and Bella arrived to Dunrobin, but he never though he would meet her in person, much less under this circumstances. “Hello.” He said politely standing from his chair. “I’m Aro, welcome to Dunrobin Castle, I must apologize in behalf of Marcus as he had other matters to attend to.” He greeted though he was pretty sure almost every vampire knew who he and his brothers were. “Are you here to deliver the special order?”

She bowed. “Yes, yes I am and let me thank you for your hospitality, the castle is beautiful. My name is Esme Platt, I came personally to ensure the equipment is in perfect conditions and to set them up so they’ll run smoothly.”

“Of course. Though I wasn’t expecting another vampire to make the delivery but as I see youfeed on animals, I must assume you live a human-like life?”

She was somewhat surprised to see Aro recognized her diet as the ones like her were quite uncommon. “Yes, I do. I must say, I was surprised when I recognized the name on the order, that’s why I asked to come here myself. May I inquire about the reasons why you bought all of this medical equipment?”

“Oh it’s nothing special,” Aro lied. “As we have so many humans working for us and living the premises 24/7, we like to provide with the necessary medical care for anything they’ll need, the same is done in Volterra but seeing as this castle is mostly unoccupied, we hadn’t fixed the medical quarters until recently.” He explained raising no suspicions between the twins and Renata as it wasn’t uncommon to update the medical facilities every once in a while.

“I had no idea, I thought the humans went to a regular hospital in the city.”

“Up until now they had, though here we have a small clinic for simple accidents and the like.” He finished explaining as he walked towards her. “Now, I assume you know of my abilities.” She nodded. “I hope you don’t find this rude of me to ask but I imagine your life must be fascinating as it so different from ours, may I?” He asked extending his hand.

Almost everyone knew of Marcus’ ability to see the links between individuals and Aro’s power that allowed him to read mind, nonetheless, no everyone knew just how deep his gift let him see and though people almost never refused him when he asked, he hoped Esme didn’t know all he would be able to read from her.

“Of course.” She answered placing her hand in his, staring puzzled at their touching hands as she had been expecting some sort of buzzing sensation to indicate his ability working on here, instead there was nothing more than the feeling she would get with anyone else holding her hand.

At the same time, Aro was seeing everything about her, her human family, her creator, her decision to feed from animals and then, the thing he was most curious about, he saw her walking into the same record store he had seen in Carlisle’s mind before.

She walked inside with no particular album in mind, she was always like that when it came to music, she just browsed the tables until something caught her eyes and that day wasn’t the exception; except, the moment she crossed the door she sensed two other vampires mixed with the rest of the crowd, she tensed—a normal reaction given the disadvantage of two to one—but her instincts gave way to surprise when she saw a blond man looking through the CDs in front of him. He was with his back to her but she could swear at that moment that it was him, his hair color was so unique that even if she had been human the only time she had seen him before, she knew it was him, the nice doctor that now—as she had learned what the golden eyes meant—she knew was a vampire just like her.

She took off her sunglasses as the second vampire, a boy with bronze hair that seemed to be 17 years old looked at her and recognized her similar dietary choices, but her attention couldn’t be diverted from blond man. It seemed that they too had tensed when they felt her presence, as now they had relaxed when the boy talked to the man, he murmured something too low for her to hear but after no more than a couple of seconds the blond man turned around.

It was him! She knew it! Oh how happy she was! And then she became elated when their eyes met. Daniel had told her about mating bonds, he hadn’t found his mate but knew the stories of his friends that had, and so, Esme became a hopeless romantic, hoping for the day she would find her other half. And now, as their eyes met, it felt like the heavens were finally smiling at her, the doctor that had stolen her heart all those years before turned out to be her soulmate.

She walked to them and after introducing herself, she finally knew his name: Carlisle. Electricity ran through her skin as their hands touched, she couldn’t help but smile, her undead heart felt like exploding when he smiled back.

Then, the boy talked, Bringing them out of their dream-like state as Edward introduced himself and talked about Isabella. She felt a pang of pain like ice striking her hear when the boy mention that woman. She was jealous, there was no denying that, Carlisle was _her_ soulmate and yet, this Isabella was married to him, furthermore they had the family Esme had always wanted, so even when her conscience told her it was wrong, she tried to get him. He was happily married but that didn’t matter, she knew she could make him happy, even more so than Isabella, besides, it was like destiny was on her part as she coincidentally encountered him on two more occasions.

She had thought she was getting somewhere as they started texting constantly and when he accepted her invitation to go hunting just the two of them, she was so sure of the outcome that nothing could have prepared her for the desolation she felt when he left her laying naked on the ground.

She was hurt and sad and where she had felt happiness filling her just moment ago, she now was empty, rid of everything, not only the warm and fuzzy feelings Carlisle had been causing in her but everything else too. She realized this a couple of days ago when instead of feeling joy as she reread one of her favorite book, she felt nothing; at first she thought it was the normal feeling someone goes through after a breakup, I mean, she had gone through a breakup of some sorts recently, but as days, weeks and years went by, everything she tried left her unsatisfied, it was as if someone had drain the world of all its colors and scents. At some point she stopped buying the flowers she bought constantly to decorate her house as she couldn’t distinguish anything special about them, everything was there but it was as if she just existed outside of the rest, just feeling nothing.

Well maybe ‘nothing’ wasn’t quite right, she felt sadness, loneliness, desperation, frustration; every time she saw a couple on the streets or a family playing in the park she felt fury, she had been so, _so_ close to getting her happily ever after and now, she returned home on her own every night, with no one to spend time with. In the last decades she hadn’t even seek any of her friends anymore, what was the point? They couldn’t do anything to help anyway.

“How interesting.” Aro said after just mere seconds, as that was how long it took him to see everything he had.

“Have you seen something amusing?” She asked good heartedly with a smile, unaware of the real reason the king was so surprised.

“Indeed. Not many of our kind live the way you do.” He lied with expertise.

“May I ask, have you encountered other that feed on animals before?”

“Yes, a couple here and there every few decades, it’s always so fascinating to see how some of our kind integrates with human society. But please, let’s get business out of the way, if you’d be so kind to follow, I’ll show you where the equipment is going to go so that it can get set up.”

“Of course.” Esme answered walking out of the room only with Aro as he dismissed Renata.

On one side of the room, as they had been all throughout the exchange that had taken place between Esme and Aro, Jane and Alec looked at each other quizzically as they were curious as to why Aro had answered the way he did when asked about animal feeders.

* * *

As there was not much to do while they waited for the equipment to arrive and be connected, Carlisle and Bella had done a couple of visits to the expecting couple only to check on her vitals and ask if any of them had noticed any changes or something that worried them. At the same time, they took those occasions to set up some video chats with Alice hoping that getting to know Penelope would help her have clearer vision of the baby or at least around the pregnancy, so far there had been no luck, but all of them wanted to stay positive.

A couple of days passed and finally all the medical things Carlisle and Bella needed had been set up in the private room designed for Penelope’s care, so the both of them went back with Demetri and his mate so that Carlisle could take a blood sample from her and confirm her pregnancy. It seemed like a simple process, in the end, both Carlisle and Bella had taken hundreds of bloods samples all throughout their medical careers, but they forgot to consider that Demetri as a part of the Volturi Guard had never had to control his thirst for human blood so when the needle pierced Penelope’s arm to let the blood start flowing into the glass vial Carlisle was holding, there was barely enough time for Bella to alert Carlisle, who took out the needles too fast for Penelope to comprehend what had happened and in the next second, both Carlisle and Bella had lunged towards Demetri, keeping him away from his mate.

Thankfully nothing else happened, after being able to calm Demetri down, he remained outside the closed doors as Carlisle had to take more blood out of Penelope as the first vial had been dropped to the ground. Finally after washing off the spilled blood and burning the rags they used to clean everything, they made sure there was no more blood anywhere and all the scent had disappeared before letting Demetri back in.

Penelope had been shaken up but aside from the initial shock, nothing had happened to her, yet, both Carlisle and Bella remained tense for a moment longer until they saw she was just as comfortable with him as before.

“It seems Penelope shook off the shock quite easily.” Bella exclaimed after she and Carlisle had been left alone to work on the blood analysis. “What?” She questioned when Carlisle simply stared at her.

“Oxford? If I remember correctly, which I do, you had no problem accepting the fact that I was a vampire after you saw me killing someone in front of you when you were human, though you _did_ passed out.”

“That was different.”

“How so?”

“You didn’t attacked _me_.” Carlisle rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Yeah but I did killed someone in quite a graphic manner, Demetri only _almost_ jumped at her, we stopped him and nothing happened.”

“Anyways,” Bella saidafter a moment of silence, abruptly changing the topic. “Aro and Marcus weren’t kidding when they said we had all their resources at our disposition. Everything they order for Penelope’s care is of the utmost quality, all of this wasn’t cheap.”

Carlisle couldn’t keep a small chuckle in as he realized Bella didn’t want to give in. “Indeed.” He agreed looking at the name of the lab from which the Kings had ordered all the equipment, somehow, the name was familiar to him.

Carlisle’s POV

“You know, I was thinking about what happened with the blood.” I said as we walked back to our room after we had gotten the results, which indeed were positive, and left the improvised OB-GYN facility. “I hadn’t considered it until know but don’t you think that maybe will need others to help us in case an emergency is needed?”

Bella thought about it for a moment before answering me. “I guess it would be better to be prepared for anything that could go wrong so maybe we could look into having a couple more people to help, but who? It would be dangerous to have anyone from the guard with us, as you saw with Demetri, and as we don’t know the way the fetus will behave, to rely on humans could be dangerous for them too.”

I sighed as I thought about the best option. “Well, you know Rose is just as unaffected by human blood as us. She might not have medical training but I think she could do perfectly if we teach her the basics.” I said still somewhat unsure as the topic of babies was just as sensitive for her as, well, for me.

Bella took my hand and I instinctively tightened my grip for a second. “I’m sure she would do great but I’m afraid of the way this pregnancy in particular would affect her.” She said mirroring my thoughts.

“Well, I’m sure we still have some time think about this, but maybe we should consider how to broach this subject with her just in case.” I said, shyly rubbing her knuckles with my thumb. “Do you have any plans right now?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“Would you like to take a walk with me?” I proposed. “I was thinking that we could go into town.”

“I’d like that. I’ll just grab my coat once we reach our room.”

As such, we only stepped inside our chambers to retrieve our coats before leaving once more in search for Aro so that we could ask to borrow a car. Moments latter, we found him in the library discussing something with Marcus.

“Of course.” He agreed to my request. “I’ll lead you to the garage, Bella can wait for you at the main entrance.” He added leaving no room to question his instructions and leaving both Bella and I a bit confused.

“Is there something you wanted to talk about?” Y asked bluntly after walking a safe distance from the library.

“Why would you think that?” He answered with feigned innocence.

“Because you could easily had asked someone to escort both Bella and I to the car.”

“Perceptive as always.” He said, staying silent for a couple of steps. “You see, I wanted to talk about something I saw in your mind.” He began and I felt the same dread Bella probably felt when Marcus talked to her as I assumed what he wanted to touch on.

“Go on.” I allowed him.

“How are you? Both of you.”

“We are... trying.” I answered clueless as to how to word our poor attempts at moving on.

“Being honest, I was surprised when I saw what happened. You two are the first vampires I know of that have denied the call of a bond, I don’t even think I can understand why, when I met Sulpicia was the best day of my life.”

“Yes but you didn’t already love someone when she came into your life.”

“I guess you’re right, you still love Bella, don’t you?”

“Of course, more than anything.”

“I see, so if you were to encounter that woman again...”

“Nothing would happen, that much I’m sure.” I said leaving no room for question.

“That’s good.” He said once more staying silent for a while. “I’m just trying to understand here, what did you feel for Esme?”

I sighed, I knew he was honestly just curious as he was about everything he didn’t know, but it wasn’t a topic I was happy to touch on, yet I knew by now that he would make me talk about it sooner or latter. “Don’t you know the answer to that?”

“Theoretically, yes, but you know my powers doesn’t let me _feel_ the emotions, I just know they exist.”

“Well, as you have Sulpicia, you know how it feels to find your mate, but after rejecting the bond, I realized I didn’t love her, I didn’t even know her, it was as if the bond was presenting me with an ideal, and the moment I reject the calling, that ideal broke, leaving the reality, a woman that, as beautiful as she was, was not the one I love.”

“So do you think that bonded mates only have the illusion of love?” He asked intrigued.

“No, I think that the bonds show us who will be our other half, but as time goes on and you start actually getting to know that person, the initial pull turns into love. But I already had that love in Isabella, I didn’t need anyone else, and it kills me to know I took so long to realize that.” I explained remembering the pain I had caused her as we reached the garage.

“Well, I truly do wish you both the best, I hope you can fix what happened, though I have a feeling Marcus might react differently if he realizes what happened.” He said with amusement at the end before pausing for a moment. “Bella still loves you, you know, I don’t need to read her to know that.” He added as I ignited the car ready to drive away.


	12. X. Being Friendly

Carlisle’s POV

I drove to the driveway, stoping right in front the main entrance where Bella was waiting for me, I exited the car before walking to the passenger’s side and opening and closing the door for her, I then returned to the driver’s seat and made our way into Dornoch, about 20 min of driving at normal speed away from the castle.

We arrived at around midday and after finding a place to park, I offered her my arm as we made our way through the picturesque little town. A couple of hours ago as I planned to asked Bella out, I searched for things to do near Dunrobin, leading me to find the little town we now were at, and after discarding things that involved food I saw there were plenty of things we could do.

“So,” Bella said. “What do you want to do?”

“Well, I saw plenty of comments online that recommended playing a game of golf in the Royal Golf Gardens.”

As I proposed, our first stop was the golf course, were we played a game that took us half the time it would’ve if we were human thanks to our perfect senses, so after a little over an hour and a half we were already walking out from the garden.

“You, know, I’d never seen the appeal of playing golf and now I still don’t get it, you just hit a ball until it goes into the hole and that’s it.” She said as we retuned to the streets of Dornoch, now heading to the cathedral to see the stained glass I had read of online.

“I guess it’s because it’s easier for us, maybe if we were human we would need more ability or practice to make it in the least amount of hits.” I offered. “Though now that I had experienced golf, I didn’t like it either.” I said with humor causing her to smile. “I love your smile.” I said changing the topic. “I’ve missed it.” I said now feeling just as shy as she seemed to be while she wrapped her arm around mine and walked closer to me.

We continued as such through the streets of Dornoch until we reached the medieval church, which was a bit busier than expected with tourists admiring and taking pictures of the stained glass that adorned the structure, therefore we stayed just the time that took us to walk all around the nave before exiting once more so that other visitors had a chance to enjoy it.

I had planned on taking Bella to the beach but as we walked once more through the streets, I felt her tug at my arm with a smile as we found ourselves in front of a bookstore. Similarly—as I too loved being surrounded by books—I smiled back and followed her in, a small bell let our entrance be known to the man that sat behind the counter. It wasn’t a huge bookstore by any means, but it did harbor mountains of books—both old and new—, the corridors delimited by the same publications they sold. Without hesitation, Bella made her way through the building with me behind her following her silently. I could’ve too taken some time to find some titles that peeked my interest, but I much rather stand by her, admiring her form as she took in all the written worlds around us.

I saw her pull out of its place book after book, reading the summary and looking through its pages before putting it back were it had been resting or keeping it in her arms. This wasn’t something new to us, in fact, it was quite common. Whenever we went out on dates or took some time for ourselves as a couple away from the kids, we usually stoped on at least one bookstore were we could spend hours browsing and picking new books to read. I loved it, I loved the familiarity of us being surrounded by something we both had a fondness for so I just stood there, smiling like the lovesick man that I was watching her with a carefreeness I hadn’t seen in a while.

“Let me help you.” I said taking the small pile of 8 books that Isabella now had in her arms.

“Thank you.” She said with a smile. “Aren’t you going to pick something?”

“I’m fine, besides, I’m helping you.” I said signaling to the books I now held for her.

“Well, maybe I could pick something for you if you’d like.” She offered sheepishly.

“I’d love that.” I answered.

After a while later, when the total amount of time we had spent in the books store was around two hours, I had about twelve books in total in my arms while a couple more Isabella had in her hands that I had helped choose before we finally made our way to were the old man waited patiently for us to finish looking around the store. As I saw her reaching for her purse, I took her hand in mine and caressed her knuckles with my thumb, pretending no to notice the look she was giving me as I effectively prevented her from taking out her wallet so that I could hand the man my credit card.

“Carlisle…” She whined as we stepped out of the shop and the door closed behind us.

“Yes?” I said with fake innocence.

“I was planning on paying for that.” She said pointing to the bags of books I was holding.

“My bad.” I said shrugging and trying to hide a smile as we kept on walking to the car to leave the books. “You know, I understand Emmett and Jasper now.” I said with humor to change the topic.

She looked at me quizzically. “They always complain about having to carry the girls’ bags when they go shopping.” I explained smiling causing her to roll her eyes and softly slapping my arm.

“Yeah well, we got nothing on them, I’ve seen the girl shop and sometimes I even feel bad for them, Edward too as his sisters force him to carry their things too.” She added and we both chuckled once more as we walked to the car to drop the bags.

Finally, a little before 5 o’clock we reached Dornoch Beach and decided to take a walk along the shore as we enjoyed the way the light shone on the water, slowly fading as the sun was setting.

“I should’ve brought a hat.” She said as the wind blew her hair out of place while she tried to keep it contained with the hand that wasn’t holding mine.

“Would you rather leave? We can turn around if you so desire.”

“No, it’s ok, it’s just a bit annoying.” She said and so we continued walking for a while until we reached a rock big enough to fit both of us. I climbed it first before pulling her to sit by my side. “I enjoyed today.” She said still looking to the ocean.

“Me too.” I said as I looked at her, the wind had stoped momentarily, leaving her hair undisturbed in the wild position it had left it moments before. She hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, closing her eyes as she took pleasure in the atmosphere around us. It was almost sunset and for a while, the clouds that had prevented the sun to shine directly over us throughout the day parted, letting the soft rays of the golden hour paint our skin.

Though quite subtle, I could see the iridescent glisten of Isabella’s face. Luckily, not a soul was near us so I didn’t fret over the dainty sparkles that came from us as the light touched our bodies. We sat there in silence and after a while she opened her eyes again to catch the last moments of the warm hues.

I couldn’t turn my gaze away from her even if I wanted as I saw the light making her big golden eyes brighter, two pools of warm honey filled with emotions. Isabella had never been a good liar and it was due to her eyes; unable to prevent her feelings from reflecting on them and being so passionate about everything, throughout the decades I had been able to easily read her sentiments, I remembered how she looked at me the morning of our wedding and later, the day she woke up from her transformation and the all-consuming love she felt for me, I remembered the confusion she felt the night I brought Edward home and—though she never said it—the fear she felt as she slowly took her role as a mother afraid of fucking up. But right now, where there should be resentment and hate, there was nothing but understanding, contentment and care in her gaze.

At the same time the same eyebrows that would furrow whenever something troubled her and that I so easily could kiss away, now rested in a neutral stance, showing her comfort in the present situation.

Her lips lacked any artificial color but were painted a delicate strawberry red and as she bit them softly out of habit, I couldn’t help but to think of their taste as remembered how I would softly trace them with my tongue after caressing them with my own. I wanted them, I wanted to feel and savor her pink petals against mine, I needed her touch just as I needed blood to survive so I got closer to her. I had tried to forgive myself as she had mentioned, I had tried to move pass the image of her hurting that would come to my mind whenever I thought about her, I truly had been trying and in that moment I was almost successful, but in the end I lost and the self hatred won, so instead of claiming her lips as I so desired, I resigned with softly placing a brief kiss on her cheek before returning to my previous position, cursing myself over and over again.

And there, as she now rested her head on my shoulder, unbeknownst to my inner turmoil, we sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for the first time in long time while the blue and purple tones now painted her face signaling the arrival of twilight.

Bella’s POV

A couple of weeks had passed and after our date in Dornoch nothing more had happened, we tried communicating everything that we deemed important to the current status of our relationship and would spend time together while we read or just walked through the castle but the kiss he placed on my cheek while we admired the sunset was as far as we had gone.

I knew that despite all of our time together, neither of us knew how to act as we both felt like being in weird point in between starting a relationship and continuing what we had, added to that, we didn’t have a normal courtship phase before we got married that could give us some sort of blueprint on how to act now; and though I knew he had been working on forgiving himself just as I had been working on my own issues, it was still hard not to be afraid.

Yet, I couldn’t help but replay our last date over and over again in my mind, overanalyzing every single detail of our day together, specially our time on the beach. I wondered if I should’ve done anything different, maybe I didn’t give any clue to him, maybe I looked like I really didn’t want to be there, but I did, I really wanted to be there and I wanted him to kiss me and hold me the way he used to effortlessly do, I wanted to feel his lips on mine as he wrapped his arms around my waist, but I was still too afraid to ask for it.

And now here I was, walking to our room, returning from spending some time with the twins, something I hadn’t been able to do in the first three weeks since our arrival to Dunrobin, as between Carlisle and I taking care of Penelope and researching everything we could on the topic, and the time the twins had spent taking care of some business, our schedules hadn’t been compatible until recently.

I liked spending time with them, they were nice kids and thought they had each other and the kings treated them as they did everyone else, it was clear the were left out by the rest of the vampires living in Volterra or here in Dunrobin. They both had a difficult transition as their brief lives as humans had been extremely violent, bullied from a young age for showing signs of their supernatural abilities since before their change, they were view as witches and treated with fear, some people in their village had blamed them for the death of a couple of teenagers and in the middle of the night they had been dragged out of their home and tied to a couple of posts to be burned to death.

Jane had told me their story when I first met them, I had seen them only talking between themselves as almost everyone around them avoided them, and curious one day after they had spent some time helping me train with my shield, I decided to just talk to them.

As they were taken outside, they saw the body of their mother in the little kitchen, who died trying to protect her kids. They had suffer the abuse caused by irrational fear and had lost the only person in their lives that still loved them—as their father had also been driven away by fear—they felt the flames licking their skin and finally when the pain had been too great for their bodies to comprehend, darkens came over them.

The fire that had been lightened by the villagers had been stopped at some point by the Kings, who had been monitoring the twins for a while now, knowing of the supernatural abilities that were already showing in them, but their consciousness was so gone that they didn’t knew at what point the fire from the outside was replaced by the one from the inside as the venom burned their humanity away.

They awoke in Volterra and immediately all hell broke loose, they were so scared and had had so violent deaths that their instincts told them to escape, their powers were uncontrollable and everyone—including the Kings—were subjected to them. Therefore, from the start they were outcasted, other vampires feared them just as their human peers had done once before.

Just a year older than what the law against immortal children set as the limit, they were both in need of parental figures, that’s why they became so attached and loyal to Aro. Yet, they needed more and when I met them, completely unaffected by their gifts, my reaction to them was no different from the way I acted with others. They both helped me with my own shield and even after that, they liked spending time with me as I was one of the few people that wasn’t scared of them. Therefore, every time Carlisle and I visited Volterra, I tried to hang out with them.

At times I wondered if they saw me as a friend, I’d liked to think so but specially with Jane, it was difficult to be sure. Those thoughts plagued my mind once more as I arrived to the door, opening it to encounter Carlisle sitting on the couch and talking on the phone with our kids.

“Hello everyone.” I greeted while Carlisle put the call on speaker.

“Hi mom.” All the kids answered enthusiastically.

“How’ve you been?” Rose’s voice came through.

“I’m fine, thank you for asking. How about all of you? Please tell me the house is still standing.” I added comically causing Carlisle to smile but our mood instantly changed when the response didn’t come quickly. “It _is_ still standing, right?”

“Well... nothing happened to the house.” Edward started explaining.

“What happen this time?” Their father questioned.

Undistinguished murmurs sounded on the other side of the call accompanied with the sounds of being pushed. “What happened?” I demanded, my voice clearly more severe than Carlisle’s.

“You see,” Alice took over the explanation. “The other day Edward and Jasper went hunting and Rose was in the garage and Emmett and I were bored...” She paused causing both of us to sigh.

“Go on.” I said pinching her nose as I did since I had gotten used to mimic human behavior a long time ago.

“So,” Emmett continued. “Alice asked me if I wanted to wrestle because she didn’t want to play video games and I said I didn’t cause I think she always cheat, but she finally convinced me cause according to her she could ‘turn it off’, so we went outside because I remembered how you always say ‘not in the house’ but anyways, we started wrestling and Alice kept wining and I told her she was obviously cheating, cause she was...”

“Emmett!” I interrupted. “Just tell me what did you two do!”

“Okay, okay, so... We...kind of accidentally destroyed your garden...”

“You killed my flowers!”

“Actually...” Alice’s voice was heard again. “They were kind of already dead...”

“What! Why?”

“That’s... everyone’s fault.” Edward said. “We forgot to water them.”

“You forgot? You’re vampires, you don’t forget!”

“Well we didn’t _forget_ , we just all thought someone else was doing it.”

“They were just some plants, Rose already ordered more online.” Emmett said nonchalantly.

“That they can be replaced doesn’t matter! One would think that by now, you’ve all learned to be responsible, it’s not the first time some of you destroy a part of our property!” I said fuming. “I swear to God, sometimes I think the only way to get you to understand is if I rip you arms of!”

“Bella,” Carlisle intervened, standing up and walking next to me before rubbing my arms clearly trying to calm me down. “That might be a bit too extreme, they’ve already bought new flowers to fix it. Everyone, because you all took part in the killing of your mother’s garden, you will all have to redo it and you can’t pay someone to do it for you, I’ll be checking your bank accounts.”

“Oh, come on! Why do _we_ have to do it?” Emmett complained.

“Because it’s your punishment.” Carlisle added calmly.

“Fine.” Everyone said.

“Also, Alice, Emmett, no car for three weeks, Rose please make sure they can’t use their cars.” Bella added, causing complaints and grunts from both kids while Jasper’s laugher could be heard in the background “Jasper, don’t test me young man.” I warned him causing him to stop right away.

“Sorry.” He answered.

After the matter was settled Carlisle and I sat back down as we continued talking with our kids for a while longer until it was time for us to make our daily checkup on Penelope—who would have her first ultrasound—, at that moment we said our goodbyes and hung up.

“Shouldn’t she have a rounder belly already?” Demetri asked as Carlisle prepared the sonogram machine.

“Not really, according to what you told us, she is around 8 weeks pregnant and pregnancies usually start showing at the beginning of the second trimester, so in a couple of weeks you’ll both be able to see it.” I explained as I washed my hands in order to tend to Penelope.

“The machine is ready.” Carlisle said.

“Ok,” I answered as I sat besides the medical bed Penelope was already lying in. “I’m going to put this gel on your abdomen, it’s a bit cold but it’s necessary to help the sound waves of the machine travel. As of today you probably won’t be able to actually distinguish anything concrete from your baby but we’ll tell you what’s going on.”

In turn, she nodded and after pouring the substance, I spread it with the help of the wand-like device from the machine as the sound waves started forming images on the monitor. I passed the wand a couple of times over her uterus as I located the fetus, but when I saw it, it seemed to be smaller than normal.

“Carlisle,” I called looking at him. “What do you see?” He hummed as he got closer to me gently placing his hand on my shoulder as he looked intently at the screen in front of us.

“Is there something wrong?” Penelope asked clearly distressed as she grab onto her mate’s hand.

“Well, there’s nothing that we can see that is wrong.” Carlisle said. “But your baby seems to be developing at a slower rate than a human baby, your supposed to be between your 8th and 9th week, yet, what we can see is what’s expected from a fetus at around 6 weeks.”

“Penelope, have you had morning sickness?” I asked.

“Yes, but only the last couple of days.”

“That checks out.” Carlisle said turning to look at me before continuing now addressing the couple. “Morning sickness usually starts around the 6th week, which, according to what we can see in the screen is the phase your pregnancy is at, even though according to calculations you should be around 8.”

“Well, what does that mean?” Demetri asked clearly upset.

“Up until now, nothing aside the fact that the hybrid baby seems to develop at a slower rate.” I intervene. “Though even that is not absolute until we have more evidence. I suggest we perform weekly ultrasounds for the time being.” I proposed to which Carlisle nodded in agreement.

“Will a slower development affect him in some other way?” Penelope asked.

“We can’t say, he seems fine and has everything that is expected for a 6 weeks old fetus, he doesn’t have any malformations or anything like that if that’s what your asking. As a combination between an unchangeable being with a human, there’s no way right now to know if the hybrid will be mortal or not, maybe what we’re seeing here is an indication that he will grow at a slower rate throughout his life. I’m sorry but there really isn’t much more we can say.” I explained as I saw anguish paint the couple’s faces.

“On the good side, that means that we might have more time to figure out what are we dealing with.” Carlisle added trying to uplift the spirits.

They nodded clearly trying to be understanding. “Do… do you think we can have a picture of the ultrasound?” Penelope asked with sadness in her voice.

“Of course.” I said as I printed a couple of the images we captured before removing the remains of the gel she still had on her belly.

“I think they never imagine the possibility of their child being mortal.” Carlisle said as we walked trough the castle after we promptly exited the room in silence as we both saw a couple of tears escaping the woman’s eyes.

“Maybe they did think about that, maybe they expected their child to be like the mother so that he could be turned at some point but seeing a difference on its development made them realize that the baby might be something else entirely, what if he is indeed mortal but inmune to the venom?” I questioned as I ran possibilities through my mind.

“To have a child only to loose him?”

“Maybe.” Was the only word I could mustered as we kept walking in silence.

Together we returned to our chambers where I immediately entered our walk-in closet to change into a clean blouse—as the one I had been wearing was stained with a bit of the gel I poured onto Penelope—before walking back to the small living room we had.

Carlisle’s POV

“Are we still going hunting later?” Bella asked as she returned from the bedroom.

“Of course, or do your have something else lined up tonight?” I asked looking up from the computer in the desk in front of me. “Did Marcus arranged another chess match?”

“No, Chelsea asked me to accompany her to Inverness, is still fairly early so I think we have enough time for whatever she wants to do.” She explained forcing me to suppress a low growl that threaten to come out of me the moment she mentioned Chelsea’s name.

“Is something wrong?” She asked. “Your whole demeanor just changed.”

“It’s nothing.” I said trying to relax.

“Really?” She asked incredulously as she clearly wasn’t buying my response. “Come on, tell me, what’s the problem? We agreed we would talk about things, remember?”

And she was right, we had promised to talk about our issues, so after a sigh that denoted defeat I spoke. “I just… I don’t like her.”

“Chelsea?” She asked for an unneeded clarification and I couldn’t do anything aside from nodding. “Yeah well, I’ve noticed that, though I don’t understand why, I think she’s nice and friendly.”

“Too friendly for my linking…” I mutter without filtering my words as jealousy creeped up to me.

“Excuse me? What are you talking about?”

“Are you telling me you haven’t noticed? First of all, she’s not nice, in fact quite the opposite and she’s only friendly to you because she wants to sleep with you and because of your shield, she actually needs to pretend to be amicable because she can’t force you to like her!”

“Or maybe she’s actually just trying to be a good person but you don’t want to give her the benefit of the doubt like what happens with everyone and the twins!”

“But she’s not! She truly is a bad person, not only does she treats every human she encounters as if they were inferior just because she’s a vampire but she also prances around using her gift to manipulate people to fit her whims! Jane and Alec don’t go around hurting people just because!”

“If Chelsea was as toxic as you say, Aro would’ve done something about it already.”

“Maybe everything she does is small enough that the Kings won’t act against her, besides, she has a useful gift; but if you don’t believe me you can ask Edward or Jasper! I just… I don’t like that you spend time with her alone.” I finally said.

“So are you now going to tell me who I can and can’t hang out with?” She asked angrily.

“Absolutely not!”

“Then what is it? Do you not trust me?” Bella asked clearly hurt. “Is that it? Because _I_ wasn’t the one who almost fucked someone else.” She added with venom in her eyes that would never fall as her voice cracked.

“No! Of course I trust you!” I said standing up and walking closer to her but as I reached of her hand she shook off my touch and turned away from me and putting back some distance between us, her action now hurting more than her previous words. She had never held my actions against me, but she was right _I_ cheated on her on multiple levels, not her and it was her who now had to deal with the emotional aftermath of my wrong doings. “Bella…”

“I HATE THAT NAME!” She snapped confusing me. “You know what, I can’t, I can’t talk to you right now, I’m sorry I… I need to go.” She said taking her purse before walking to the door as she avoided to look at me.

“I’m sorry, please…”

“Carlisle, don’t…” She said as followed her and took her hand. “Please, let me go, I need to go right now, I can’t. I’m sorry.” She said as her unnecessary breathing sped up and her body movement became frantic, she was having a panic attack.

I stood there like an idiot defeated in the living room watching her go. We had been doing progress in regards to the situations of our relationship, we had been communicating more and I truly had been trying to forgive myself, to see myself the way she saw me; but now as she finally spoke out loud of my past actions I couldn’t help but let the remorse drag me down. She had never spoken of what I had done, like we both had and agreement not to speak of those topics in particular; at first I though it was because she truly had forgiven me but now it was clear the cause was of the pain it provoked in her.

As the seconds passed and those seconds turnt to minutes and I kept still, frozen in the place I was when I let her go and as I remember the pain and fear in her gaze, I couldn’t help but wonder if that would be the last time I would be seeing her leave, I wondered if she would be coming back now after I unknowingly ripped the band-aid that had kept her from breaking down once more.

I collapsed onto the same seat I was occupying before all of this, looking at nothing for a while as I allowed my thoughts to wander to… _her_ again. Her… She had said she hated her name and I couldn’t understand why…

A knock at the door distracted me from my thoughts. “Come in.” I called and a human girl entered the room.

“Excuse me, Dr. Cullen but the Kings require your presence in the library.”

“I’ll be there promptly.” I answered, my own voice sounding foreign to my ears. The girl gave a small bow and exited the room.

I stood up again, mindlessly walking through the corridors that would lead me to the Archives where both Aro and Marcus sat as they discussed Penelope’s pregnancy in whispers.

“Carlisle! Thank you for coming so quickly, where’s Bella?” Aro asked enthusiastically.

“She went to Inverness with Chelsea.” I said monotonously.

“Oh, well I guess you will have to suffice.” He answered trying to be humorous. “Tell us, has there been anything important regarding the situation with Penelope and Demetri?”

“According to what we were able to see in the ultrasound, we think the hybrid develops slower than a human.”

“Anything else? Something about the dangers it may present?” Marcus asked and I shook my head.

“There’s still not much to base our opinions on, right now it doesn’t even have a developed brain.”

“Well, that’s a bit anticlimactic.” Aro said. “With the three weeks you’ve been here we thought there would be more information.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” _You’ve been doing a lot of that lately_ my thoughts complemented.

“Nonsense. Anyways, as there really isn’t much more to talk about, Marcus, don’t forget we have that video call with Caius latter this evening, according to Felix the newborn problem in the south of the States is still ongoing so we must decide what to do about it. Now, Carlisle, if I remember correctly you owe me a rematch in a game of chess, what do you say?”

“Sure.” I said as I didn’t have anything better to do than wallowing in my self hatred.

“Must I ask?” Aro said after we put enough distance between us and Marcus so not to be heard. “You had been happier the last couple of weeks after you and Bella returned from your date.”

I shrugged not finding the desire to open up.

“Carlisle, I understand you usually don’t like to talk about this things but I’m asking you as a friend that truly cares for you and for Isabella.” He said before we remained in silence for a while after reaching his personal library.

“We got into a fight.” I murmured after sitting down and looking thought the window. “It was my fault, I told her I didn’t like that she spend time alone with Chelsea.”

“May I ask why?” He questioned taking the chair opposite to mine.

“Bel… She says Chelsea is only trying to be nice but I think it’s obvious Chelsea had been flirting with her, I don’t have to have my sons abilities to notice. Then she asked if I didn’t trust her and… she brought up what happened…”

“Oh.” Was all he could muster as I hung my head in desperation and defeat.

“I know I don’t have any right to be jealous but I can’t help it and it’s not that I don’t trust her and I tried talking to her to tell her so but she shook me away and… She asked me to let her go… And now I don’t even know if she wanted me to let her go just at that moment or… Oh God, I can’t be without her and I’m just so afraid of her choosing someone else!”

“Don’t think like that,” he said trying to be comforting as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think she was referring to forever. I also don’t think she truly believes you don’t trust her, we all know that as a species we tend to be… possessive and given the situation you’re in, I understand your fears.”

“It’s just that it seems that for every step we take forward, we take two back. Maybe... Maybe she would be better off without me, maybe the right thing to do is to let her go...”

“Carlisle, Bella turned down her literal soulmate for you, I don’t think there’s something you could do to make her stop loving you. If you let her go the only thing you would accomplish with that would be making both of you miserable. Think about it.

“Now,” he said changing his tone.” I believe you promised me a game of chess.” He said ending our previous depressing conversation

We played for a while before I decided to go for a walk as I thought about what had happened today. Just then as I exited the castle through the front door, I caught a familiar scent I had smelled decades ago in Vancouver.


	13. XI. Arising Problems

Bella’s POV

I left the room and sprinted through the castle, passing the gardens until I found myself in the woods surrounded by the silence they provided as all living beings were being told by their instincts to avoid my presence. I sank to my knees in front of a small and perfectly still lake as I felt the memories come over me again, I hadn’t let myself feel the pain in a long while and now I didn’t know how to make it stop.

I had had months, years and decades to think over and over again of the events that led us to here and yet, I didn’t because it was easier to ignore the pain and all the problems and instead concentrate on minuscule and banal things as I lived one day at a time, but the truth was that I couldn’t ignore it anymore, no matter how much it hurt me.

I buried my hands in the dirt as I acknowledge what had happened. Maybe he didn’t go all the way but he did cheated on me and even though I know he deeply regretted everything that he did, that didn’t change the fact that he lied to me for weeks or that it didn’t matter how much I wanted to, I was still afraid of letting him in so deeply as I once had because I was scared of being hurt again.

For so long I tried to be stronger, to get over it but instead I only pushed the pain down deeper and deeper every time my heart started hurting, trying to convince myself that he did love me, that _that_ was the reason he didn’t established the bond with that other woman, but then my mind would go back to the afternoon we spent in Seattle near Christmas or the sunset in Dornoch beach and I was reminded of how hesitant he was to hold my hand or to kiss me.

At the time I attributed his attitude to nervousness or how neither of knew how to act but the more I thought about it I realized that in the end it didn’t matter cause maybe it wasn’t a matter of us being emotionally clumsy, maybe it was a matter of him not loving me because why would he?

Over the years I had thought about her, the woman Carlisle was meant to love and I wondered how she would look like and what she would be like, I always pictured her taller than me, maybe around Rose’s height, with a nice hourglass figure and wavy locks a darker shade of blond, with warm enchanting eyes and full lips that would provide one of those smiles that made you feel welcome and at home. And then there was me, plain old Bella Swan with boring brown hair and a lanky figure, eyes that were a bit too big for my face and apparently the only vampire that somehow still managed to be clumsy at times.

I dropped my hand to the water in front of me, disturbing my reflection, an image I’d gotten to avoid in the last decades. Closing my eyes I kept thinking of him and his words reassuring me he wanted to be with me again, something I now found hard to believe. Maybe the reason he stoped when he did instead of fully forming the bond was not due to his feelings for me but for the guilt he tried to avoid. I was still convinced that despite what had happened between us, he was a good man so maybe in trying to do the right thing he decided to go back to me even if he didn’t want to.

It wasn’t all his fault though, I too played a part that contributed to how much I had hurt 70 years ago… how much I was hurting right now. I looked through my memories and went back to the time it was only the both of us and realized that through the years I had put all my faith in him, even when I couldn’t believe in myself I would trust _him_. When I was still human I would stay at his side whenever I was afraid thinking that being there meant nothing would be able to wound me and when I became like him I took comfort in him, breathing in his scent to control myself because I wanted him to be proud of me but in the end all I did was make all my happiness dependent on one person that wasn’t me and now I was seeing how wrong that was.

What was worse was that he loved me like that, and now as I sat on the ground I realized I couldn’t be that girl again, I couldn’t be the happy, strong-willed but dependent Isabella he had once loved, I had hurt too much for that, I had scars that proved to that and perhaps the consequences of those injuries ran way too deep, deeper than I had once thought, maybe I was broken beyond repair. I knew too he had issues he had to work through regarding our situation but how could I help him if I myself wasn’t whole. I loved him, that much was still true, I loved him with all I had, with all I was but maybe that just wasn’t enough anymore, maybe _I_ wasn’t enough anymore.

So maybe it was selfish of me to want him back. Maybe she could still want him, maybe they could be together, he could go looking for her, it couldn’t be too difficult to find one of the only vegetarian vampires we know of. She was probably a nice person and was literally meant to be his soulmate, she could make him happy and could probably take care of everyone at home too so there wasn’t a reason for me to stay. Maybe… Maybe it would be better for everyone if I would just let him go…

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Chelsea’s voice came through the woods. “I though we were planning on going to Inverness?”

“Of course, I just needed some fresh air.” I said standing up, haphazardly drying my hand on my jeans.

“Everything fine?” She asked reaching the small clearing I was in.

“Sure.” I lied but she gave me a look that showed she was unconvinced.

“Look, I don’t mean to pry but I was on my way to look for you to your rooms and heard you and Carlisle yelling.”

 _Great_. I thought to myself. “It was just a small misunderstanding.” I said with a shrug before walking past her and in the direction of the castle. “So, Inverness?”

“Yeah sure.” She said catching up to me.

I hadn’t realized how long I had run in my despair to get away from him, so now here we were, walking at a leisured pace as we made conversation. “Do you wanna talk about it?” She asked after a moment of silence as it was clear as day I was still lost in my thoughts.

“It was nothing really, basically a disagreement, every couple has one of those every once in a while.”

“If you say so. Not me though.” She added causing me to look confused at her. “That’s one of the benefits of my gift.” She said winking. “I recall one time I started dating this one girl that had just entered the guard, she was from the same coven as Heidi. She was really pretty, a redhead with curly hair, I think she had enhanced self-preservation skills or something like that, so the Kings had given her a place in the guard cause they thought that if loyal to us, her gift would be able to help insure all of our members’ survival—not that we really needed it with the twins and Felix—.

“Anyways, after a few decades I started sensing her being more and more distant and when I confronted her, she said she just didn’t see us together and that she wanted to go back to travel the world but she didn’t want to leave without Heidi cause they were good friends so I did her a favor and broke the friendship between the two of them. She was sad of course but now she could go back to being nomadic and not worry about her ex-friend. She didn’t really have such an important gift so Aro wasn’t too upset when he let her leave.” She retold with a smile, making me think of the things Carlisle had said about her before I ran away from him. “Albeit, I’m not infallible, I can’t modify links between mated couples or you.” She said pointing at my head signaling my shield.

“By the way, I was meaning to ask you, did you guys called one of your animal drinking friends?” She continued talking changing the topic.

“No, why you ask?”

“The other day I saw a woman that I’m pretty sure had golden eyes in the garden, I thought you knew her.” She answered with a shrug and I felt anxiety cripple through me.

I was so caught up in my thoughts once more that I didn’t sense the tree that broke in half next us until I felt being pulled by an arm that had snaked its was around my waist before hearing a thump close to where we stood. 

“Distracted much?” Chelsea questioned.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“No problem, I mean, it’s not like the tree could do much damage to us but I imagine its annoying to pull wood and leaves out of the hair.” She said laughing.

“Yeah I guess. Thanks by the way.”

“Sure.” She said with her arm still around my waist so I just took a couple of steps back.

“So… do you mind if we postpone the trip to Inverness? I think I’m more distracted than what I thought.” I said trying to sound lighthearted.

“Of course, but are you sure you’re ok?” She said walking closer to me again. “I don’t mind keeping you company.” She whispered in a sultry voice.

“No, I’m fine, in fact I was thinking on going back to the castle.” I answered turning around in Dunrobin’s direction.

“We could have some fun first.” I heard her say as she pulled my arm to turn me around to her before her lips where on mine.

“What the fuck!” I simply yelled after pushing her away.

“Oh come on, I’ve been dropping hints for a while now and you never recoiled.”

“Because apparently I’m extremely stupid when it comes to getting hints! I thought we were friends, besides I’m married!”

“Carlisle doesn’t have to find out. Besides, according to what you yelled back at the castle, your husband was getting involved with another woman, wasn’t he?” She said with malice and satisfaction in her voice, as if his mistake could make me accept her advances, and maybe that would’ve worked on someone else or if I was looking for revenge, but I wasn’t and I couldn’t because I still loved him, even if he didn’t feel the same way about me, I still loved him and I couldn’t do something like that to him. “Are you going to tell me I got it all wrong, Isabella?”

“Don’t call me that.” I muttered through gritted teeth. “I’ve told you before I don’t like to be called by my full name.”

“Carlisle calls you by your full name, why can’t I?”

“For simple reason that he’s my husband and _you_ are _nothing_ to me.”

“Is that so? Well, what a shame, though I must say I thought you were smarter than that, to accept him back after cheating on you, I could never.”

“Fuck you.” I spat as venom started to pool in my eyes, turning around once more before sprinting back to the castle.

* * *

The days passed and those days became weeks and Carlisle and I still haven’t talked about what had happened before I ran into the woods. Truth be told, I had been avoiding him; I would go use the shower and change clothes when I was sure he wasn’t in the room, of course we had seen each other because we would both go take care of Penelope but in those brief moments I made a point of only talking about things related to the pregnancy. A couple of times after we were done with her daily checkups, Carlisle had asked to speak to me or asked if I would like to go for a walk but I denied every time with the excuse of having previous arrangements like spending some time with Marcus or the twins. After a couple of days he stopped asking.

I knew what I was doing was childish, no matter the outcome, we would need to resume the topics of our fight, but I wasn’t ready for that because I was afraid it would be the end of whatever relationship we had at that point; so every day after I would give myself a pep talk that resulted in deciding that day it would be the day to talk to him, I would postpone it the moment I saw him, telling myself that one more day wouldn’t make a difference.

That’s how three more weeks went by and at that point Carlisle had stopped asking us to talk for about a week, now I would just notice him giving me whatever space he thought I needed and at times—in the few occasions we were in the same room—I would notice him looking at me with sadness in his eyes. Though he stopped using his words a couple of days ago, I could still see the plead reflected in them that showed how desperately he wanted to speak to me, and in those times, when his melancholy became mine, something inside of me stirred giving me some sort of strength to deal with the problem in front of us, yet as I would give a step towards him, cowardice would take over me and make me turn around to ignore the much delayed talk once again.

Like so, I was walking on my own through the corridors of the castle in the direction of Penelope and Demetri’s room for her daily checkup were I would most likely encounter Carlisle as well because we were both a bit worried for the mother as lately she had seemed a bit down and more tired than her usual energetic self, yet—at least according to the couple—there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

I arrived at the door of the expectant parents and knocked with my thoughts still occupied by Penelope’s wellbeing and I waited a bit confused after I heard her voice calling for me to give her a second and I wondered were Demetri was as he had never missed one of her appointments.

“Hello.” Carlisle greeted tentatively as he arrived.

“Hi.” I answered looking at the ground, not moving my gaze from the hole I would’ve made in the floor if that had been possible.

Thankfully, the door open not long after the start of our uncomfortable silence to reveal a sleepy and tired Penelope. The sight in front of us did nothing to diminish our worries as her chestnut skin had taken a pale hue and there were faint but dark circles under her eyes.

“Hi, please come in.” She greeted trying to rub the sleepiness away from her eye and we followed her inside to the room that had became a full-on OB-GYN office in the last couple of weeks. “Demetri isn’t here, he was asked to fulfill a quick mission.” She said answering my—and probably Carlisle’s—unspoken question to which we both nodded.

As it was routine every week, we asked a couple of questions regarding her state as we prepared the sonogram machine to look at her baby again, once more she assured she was fine and that she was just a little tired, yet neither Carlisle nor I thought she was in good health, so we pressed a bit with our questions.

“Penelope, I’m sorry if this is lacks tact but you don’t look fine, your physical appearance show us some sort of problem and that causes us to worry about your and your baby’s health, we want to help you but you _need_ to tell us everything.” I said.

“It’s nothing really, I guess the morning sickness is just taking its toll on me, but that’s normal, isn’t it?” She asked. “Though I don’t know why they called them ‘morning’ sickness, I’ve been having them all day."

“While it’s true that morning sickness can actually be present at any point of the day, it shouldn’t have such a drastic effect on you.” Carlisle answered. “When was the last time you’ve had a full meal?”

She remained silent for a couple of seconds as she thought about it, which was on its own a bit alarming as she shouldn’t have to think when she last ate. “About two days ago, I think.”

“That’s a long time, you shouldn’t go for that long without eating.”

“I know, until lately I had been able to actually eat my food but yesterday I couldn’t keep anything down and today I haven’t even have any desire to eat even though I’m hungry, I tried eating some fruit but they taste different and it makes me queasy.”

Carlisle and I looked at each other for a while before he continued talking. “What do you mean food tastes different?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I guess it’s kind of like when you have a cold and you can’t really taste food but instead of nothing the favor it’s just wrong. Does that mean there’s a problem?”

“I don’t think we should worry too much about this, we can give you some medicine that will calm the nausea, sometimes human pregnancies require the mothers to take this kinds of drugs and there isn’t more to it, so we can start there, I’ll have someone buy them today.” Carlisle said as he went to look for a notepad to write a prescription.

In the mean time I poured the gel on her belly to perform the ultrasound, which showed what seemed to be a healthy baby, the only difference was that instead of the 11 weeks the pregnancy was supposedly at, the image reflected a fetus along 8 weeks, so it seemed like a confirmation that the hybrid baby was developing slower than a human would.

For the last week, Carlisle and I had been able to listen to the baby’s heartbeat thanks to our enhanced hearing, yet, we hadn’t been able to actually showed it with the ultrasound to the mother, so I decided that it would be the best way to lighted the mood as she now was worrying about the food situation.

“Would you like to listen to your baby’s heartbeat?” I asked her, happy that the question caused the desired effect.

“Can I?” She asked excitedly.

“Yes, though we will need to do a transvaginal ultrasound, it means I’ll insert a probe a couple of inches into your vaginal canal.”

“Ok.” She agreed and I prepared for the scan as she went to her bedroom to change into a hospital gown. Conveniently, thanks to Aro’s ‘you can use all our resources’ policy, we had everything I needed to perform this type of sonogram too.

A couple of minutes later Carlisle reentered the room after having sent someone to buy the medicine for Penelope’s nausea, staying still as I delicately moved the wand until I found a position that allowed the baby’s heartbeat to be heard by the mother, who couldn’t help but shed a couple of tears as the proof of her living baby reached her ears.

“Thanks.” She said as Carlisle handed her a tissue. “Do you think you can do another scan after Demetri returns? He’s supposed to be back before sunset and I’d like for him to listen to it.”

“Well we can do that, but he can actually listen to the heartbeat without it.” I explained as I thought that having the wand inside of her probably wasn’t the most comfortable thing.

“And he didn’t say anything!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe he dismissed the sound as something else, I guess he wasn’t really thinking about it and there are humans all over this castle at all times.”

“Okay…” She agreed reluctantly as she got off the examination table and once again left for her room to change back into her clothes, coming back into the room we were after a couple of minutes.

“That’s all for today.” I said after Carlisle and I finished cleaning everything and putting all the stuff back to their places. “We can come back later in case you still want to show Demetri the heartbeat with an ultrasound or if you’d like to hear it again.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“I must tell you,” Carlisle intervened. “Someone will come with the requested anti-nausea medicine, I’d like you to take two pills 15 minutes before attempting to eat anything and call us in case there’s no improvement.”

“Of course, thank you, again.” She said escorting us to the door.

“Don’t mention it. In the meantime, you should probably rest.”

“I will, I’ll see you later, I guess. Bye”

“Goodbye.” Carlisle and I answered at unison before turning around and walking away.

“I hope the pills I prescribed are enough.” He said.

“If not, we’ll have o think on something stronger, maybe we should consider putting an IV in her, we’ll need to ask Aro to buy all that to have in hand just in case.” I said and he hummed his agreement.

We walked together and in silence back to our room like we usually did after an appointment with Penelope, as we had gotten into the habit of writing her medical records as well as documenting all the information we could on the pregnancy for the Kings had asked to keep inthe Volturi Archives. We were both working without saying a word, the sound of the keyboard as the only background noise as we both typed on our respective laptops, only speaking when we wanted the other’s opinion on this or that.

Since the beginning we seemed to have made a silent agreement by which Carlisle would make all the notes for Penelope’s medical records while I wrote what would be part of the Archives. In a way the information was the same and in the end Carlisle’s notes would be integrated into the official document, but while his writings only contained the vital informations for the monitoring of the pregnancy, my text had everything described in extreme detail in case it was necessary for it to be referenced in the future.

As such, Carlisle finished writing before me, and after putting everything away he stood awkwardly in silence next to the desk before calling my name, causing me to look at him somewhat hesitantly, wondering if he was going to propose for us to talk again, instead, he just said he was going to spend some time with Aro before leaving the room.

A couple of hours later I was laying on our provided bed reading a book when a frantic knock at the door took me by surprise. Immediately I stood up and went to see who had knocked but before I reached the doorway, Demetri’s voice called from the other side.

“Bella! Please you need to come, it’s Penelope.” He said and we sprinted to their room.

“What happened?” I asked as I made my way to her side of the bed she was resting on.

“I don’t know, I just came back from the mission and I found her on the bathroom floor, I think she threw up.”

“Call Aro, Carlisle is with him.” He nodded and so I resumed my attention to Penelope. “Penelope? I’m sorry to bother you but I need you to wake up so that I can ask you some questions, it’ll be brief, I promise.” She groaned as response but reluctantly opened her eyes. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I was in the living room, I had eaten half of my food after taking the pills that you gave me.” She answered in a raspy voice so I asked Demetri to get her a glass of water before letting her continue. “I thought the pills have done its job because usually I throw everything up while I’m still eating but this time it was about two hours later, I ran to the bathroom and after a couple of times vomiting I think I feel asleep or passed out.” She finished explaining as Carlisle entered the roomwith Aro and Marcus behind him, both with worried expressions.

“Do you remember if you hit yourself? Does anything hurt?”

“Just my throat and I still have a stomachache.”

“That’s understandable.” I answered as I did a quick revision of her body to discard any injuries.

“Do you have the rest of your food?” Carlisle asked and she nodded. “You might not have smelled or tasted if anything was bad, let’s check that first.” He explained before going to look for the food.

“Are you allergic to something?” I asked as I took her temperature to start discarding possible explanations. She shook her head.

“The food is not spoiled.” Carlisle said as he came back into the room.

“Her temperature is normal too and she doesn’t seem to have any other symptoms of a stomach flu.”

“I guess we could runt test for any allergens, maybe the pregnancy caused changes in her immune system. Are you okay with that?” Carlisle asked looking at Penelope.

“How do you do it?”

“We just need to take some more blood samples, we’ll do the rest.”

“Okay.” She murmured still tired and as a preventative measure Demetri and the Kings left the room as Carlisle took the blood samples from her and returned once the vials were securely closed.

“We’ll run the tests immediately, in the meantime you should just rest and drink water, we asked for some IV fluids to be bought and they are supposed to be arriving soon, once they are here we’ll put them in because you seemed to already have lost too many nutrients.”

She nodded but it was her mate who spoke next. “Isn’t there something else you can do or give her right now?”

“I’m sorry.” I apologized. “We can’t do anything more until we have some results, if we push her to eat, it might be counterproductive.”

With that we left them to their own as Carlisle and I—accompanied by both Aro and Marcus as they were both curious—retreated to the space that housed all the medical equipment where we both took one vial of blood and started testing, but when an idea came to my mind I stoped in my tracks and put the materials down.

“Carlisle.” I called to get his attention and he looked at me waiting for me to continue. “The baby is a hybrid,” He nodded not getting my point. “A hybrid between an organism that is sustained by food and one that is sustained by blood.” I continued and I saw as realization hit him.

“Do you think…”

“We could try, of course she should still try to eat human food but maybe the reason she’s rejecting the food is because _the baby_ is rejecting it.”

“It makes sense.” Aro said from were he stood as they watched us work.

“But how are going to feed her blood?” Carlisle asked. “I doubt she will take kindly to drinking from a living human and here I don’t have the opportunity to take blood bags from work.”

“I guess we can try first with animal blood.” I suggested. “I can go hunting for her, I’m sure the castle’s kitchen will have thermoses or something else we can use to fill and bring back, we’ll just need to reheat them, it doesn’t have to go to waste if she doesn’t like it and if she does then we’ll see how we acquire blood bags.”

“Do you need assistance?” Carlisle asked and as I looked into his eyes I saw the same feeling of guilt whenever he looked at the scars that were left after the wolf attack a couple of months ago and though there was a part of me that wanted to reassure him and let him come with me, there was another portion that still wasn’t ready.

“It’s not necessary, you can finish the blood test while I hunt, the faster we have all the results, the better.” I said but his gaze didn’t realized and instead turned pained. “I guess someone else can come with me, maybe Jane and Alec will agree.” I offered.

“I can go.” Marcus said taking everyone by surprise. “I’ve always been curious about your feeding habits.”

“Well, it’s settled then, I just have to quickly change clothes.” I said looking down at my skirt.

“I’ll have someone have some thermoses ready for us at the main door.” Marcus said before we both exited the room.

After I arrived to Carlisle and I’s room, I quickly went into the closet and changed into athletic gear, though after trying a couple of sweatshirts and jackets, I felt exasperated as neither covered the scars on my neck if I pulled my hair up, so I left it down hoping it wouldn’t be too disruptive. Finally I slipped on a pair of sneakers and headed for the main door where Marcus was waiting for me, looking a bit out of place for the intended activity as he was still wearing a black suit but I said nothing as he wasn’t going to be the one taking down prey.

“So, how is it done?” He asked with genuine curiosity once we were deep into the woods.

“Well, we usually sniff the air around us and listen for beating hearts to determine where and what animals are near us. For us, carnivore’s blood is more fulfilling so I’m hoping to hunt down a predator for Penelope.” I explained as I tried to listen to my surroundings at the same time.

Just then the wind blew from the East carrying the scent of lynx and deers with it. Immediately I started running towards the source of the aroma with Marcus close behind me. I stoped for a moment as I saw the animals a few meeter away from us—all of them still unaware of our presence—and as I was suppose to fill the metal containers instead of drinking from them, I took a moment to reign myself before I lunged for the lynx first, knocking him out without killing him before returning to Marcus side and taking one of the thermoses he was carrying. With expertise I cut the poor animal’s jugular with a bite and angled the body to fill the canisters.

As the blood flowed from the lynx’s neck I felt the burning in my throat asking me to consume the red liquid myself and as I was aware of the intensity of the thirst increase, I stoped breathing trying to avoid its inviting smell until I could satisfy it with something else. At the same time, a part of me wondered how Marcus was doing when exposed to animal’s blood for though not as alluring as human blood, it could still call to him so I turned to look at were he stood and realized he too had stoped breathing, going as far a closing his eyes.

“I’m done.” I said after a couple of minutes and having filled and closed the three thermoses we had.

“Do you do that all the time?” He asked signaling the containers.

“No.” I said with humor. “This is just so that we can bring blood to Penelope, we usually drink directly from the animal, I can show you, I was due a hunt soon anyway and smelling this blood didn’t do me any favor.”

“Lead the way.” He said and I sprinted in the direction the heard of deers had ran to moments before.

With no other thing to focus on but my own feeding, the moment I saw my prey, I prepared myself to attack and jumped straight to one of the bigger specimens, taking it to the ground with me before sinking my teeth into its neck and like so, everything was over in seconds, the poor animal posing no challenge for me.

As I stood up and dropped the cadaver to the ground to enjoy the warmth of the blood running through my throat before I had to properly disposed of it, Marcus walked next to it and kneeled to smell some of the blood that stained the wound I had inflicted.

“Do you truly find this appetizing?” He asked with incredulity causing me to laugh.

“Well, as I said, carnivores are better but it’s not bad.” I argued. “Why don’t you try it?” I proposed not thinking he would accept, but after considering for a couple of second we were once again running in search for the rest of the heard.

I knew every member of the Volturi including the Kings had combat knowledge, yet they had never had to hunt like the rest of the family and I did, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that the first deer he tried to drink from, was killed as he grabbed it, destroying the poor animal before even having the opportunity to drink from it.

“You need to concentrate on just trapping the animal before biting into its neck.” I offered as advice and luckily, he managed to actually drink from the second deer he caught.

As he emptied the poor specimen, I couldn’t help but laugh at the face he made as his previous incredulity turned into pure disgust. “You must love your husband a great deal to accept drinking from animals.” He said and I couldn’t help but think about his words.

“It’s not that.” I said not only for him but apparently for me too as I helped him properly dispose of the body before we started to walk back to the castle. “Though it did started that way, plus he transformed me and for a while I only knew of animal drinking vampires, but I guess I could’ve tried human blood at some point but I just chose not to.”

“May I ask why?”

“Believe it or not, I have asked myself that. It was a while back, about ten years after creating Edward, he ran away for a couple of years and he fed on humans, according to him he only fed on the worst kind of individuals like murderers and rapists, anyway he came back home years later and Carlisle loved him so much that he never even questioned his actions. At that moment I wondered what would Carlisle think if I suddenly decided to abandon our diet.”

“Did you answered that inquiry?”

“Yes, I knew that no matter what I chose he would love me the same and proof of that is the fact that all of our kids except for Rosalie had fed on people at some point, some as accident and others by choice but that doesn’t make Carlisle love them any less.

“At the same time I realized that he wasn’t the whole reason I feed the way I do, though I guess that a part of me follows his choice because to a point I agree with what he believes in, but I like not only living and working among humans, I also like helping them and that’s easier when you consume animal blood because the bloodlust is easier to reign, I’ve worked in hospitals and as a teacher too, surrounded by a lot of people and sometimes with blood, if I drank off of them I wouldn’t be able to do that; Demetri is an example of that, the first time we drew some blood out of Penelope for some tests, he jumped to attack her and she’s his mate. So in sum, I feed the way I do cause I like playing human.” I finished as he just stood there looking at me.

“You could live here at the castle or in Volterra and still be surrounded by humans, you and your husband could both work at the hospital we have in Italy and feed like the rest of us do.” He offered and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“It’s not the same, I like traveling so I like moving from place to place every few years and to be honest, I’ve existed for so long following an animal based diet that I don’t want to ruin my perfect score, I mean, only two other vampires can claim the same as I, that’s pretty impressive if you ask me.” I said with humor causing Marcus to laugh too.

Sadly, the light atmosphere wouldn’t last as the wind blew my hair all the way back, exposing the scar on my neck.

“Isabella!” He exclaimed as he stopped me by taking the arm with which I tried to place my hair back were it had been. “What happened to you?!”

“It was nothing, don’t worry.” I answered freeing myself from his grasp finally draping my hair over my shoulder again.

“Nothing?! How is _that_ scar _nothing_?” He demanded.

“It’s just not that big of a deal.” I said still avoiding actually answering as I knew about Caius and his personal vendetta against the children of the moon.

“Isabella, what did this to you?”

I sighed, knowing he wouldn’t let it go and hoping I could calm him down now instead of letting him worry for longer. “Just, don’t do anything rash.” I started and he look suspiciously at me. “It was a wolf but it wasn’t a werewolf, it was a shapeshifter.”

“Where? We’ll deal with them immediately.”

“No, no, no, please, it was just an accident...”

“An accident? You could’ve died!” He said still furious as we walked faster towards the castle.

“But I didn’t and I’m completely fine now, please, just let this go. Besides, Carlisle found me on time and he dealt with it.”

“Thank goodness he killed that beast!” He said to which I remained silent. “He did killed it, right?” Again I said nothing. “Isabella, did or didn’t your husband killed that wolf?” He asked seriously.

“It was an accident...” I murmured.

“SO THAT THING IS STILL ALIVE!” He yelled, his eyes a deep black. “Where did it happened? Maybe we’ll be able to track them down.”

“No, please, it was a mistake, they didn’t mean it! I was just too close to their territory...”

“ _Their_ territory? So not only there are more of this beasts but you know exactly where they are?”

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“Isabella.” He said my name with exasperation. “They pose a treat to our kind.”

“They only exist to protect humans. Please, it was an accident, let’s just forget about it. It truly was a mishap, they have never broken the treaty before and the apologized profusely several times.”

“Treaty? The wolf that attacked you was part of that tribe you once told us about?” I nodded shyly. “What are we going to do with you and your family.” He lamented. “You’re only putting yourselves in danger.”

“Please, don’t do anything about them, I’ll feel guilty if you do, please just let’s move on.”

He remained unmoving in the spot where he had stopped moments before with his eyes closed as he thought about what I had said, calming down until he looked at me once more with bright red eyes. “Fine.” He answered in defeat. “But if one of those wolves attacks you or any member of your family, they will be exterminated no matter if it’s an accident or not.” I nodded.

Finally we returned to the castle in silence and went directly to the kitchen that was used to cook all the food for the humans, I prepared a double boiler and out one of the thermoses in to heat up the blood, careful to be discreet about it so that no one else saw what I was doing. After the blood reached the temperature it would have being inside a living animal, I turned off the stove and ran to Penelope and Demetri’s chambers were Carlisle had finished doing the blood test.

Immediately as Demetri let Marcus and I in, I went to see the results of the test and as Penelope had said, no allergens were identified, so we decided to test my hypothesis. With Demetri staying outside just in case, Carlisle and I walked into Penelope’s bedroom were she was asleep and gently shook her awake.

“I’m tired.” She said with a grunt.

“We know, but we wanted to test an idea that might make you feel better.” I said handing her the container.

“What’s this?”

“Can you please smell it first.” I instructed and she did as she was told and as the scent was registered by her brain, her stomach growled.

“Can I drink it?” She asked and after I nodded, she proceeded to drink every single drop before making a sound that signaled her satisfaction causing both Carlisle and I to release some of the tension we had had until that point. “It’s really good. What is it?” She asked surprised.

“It’s lynx blood.” I answered tentatively not wanting to scare her.

“Oh.” Was all that came out of her mouth.

“As the baby is half vampire, we thought that it might be asking for blood and not food, that’s why you haven’t been able to keep anything down.” I explained.

“Okay.” She simply said before staying silent for a couple of seconds. “Well, I guess it makes sense and I think I feel a bit better, though I’m still hungry.”

“We can try to give you human food but I think we should wait for a while to see if you have any other reaction to the blood. If it’s successful, we’ll need you to think if you’d be ok drinking human blood or if you rather feed on animals.”

“When you say human...”

“Well try to find a way to have access to blood bags from a hospital,” Carlisle explained. “If not, either of us will be hunting for you.”

“Oh, okay, well I guess whatever you think it’s best.” She decided easily and with that matter settled, we let her go back to sleep for about half an hour before she woke up again to eat human food once more, we then waited for around an hour but finally left as it seemed that the blood had helped her body accept regular food, in the meantime, Marcus left, asking us to keep him updated on the mother’s health.

“I brought two more thermoses,” I started explaining. “I’ll leave them in the small fridge you have here but you’ll need to reheat them before she drinks their content. You can call me or Carlisle when you want them so that we can go heat them.” Both Penelope and her mate nodded and with that we said our goodbyes for the day and left them to their own.

“I was thinking, given that this baby seems to need things that aren’t expected in a human one, do you think Edward’s ability would be useful?” He asked.

“As in to read the baby’s mind?” He nodded. “I guess you’re right, it might be a good idea. Do you think we should ask Rose to come at once too?”

He sighed. “It might be for the best, just to be prepared.”

As I agreed with him, we returned to our room to make the call.

3rd person POV

Esme entered the castle once more, greeting the human lady at the entrance and walked in the direction of the library. She stoped in her tracks as a somewhat familiar scent barely grazed her nose as a slight breeze came from one of the corridors that intersected the way she was walking. Something in her memory made her aware of that aroma but she couldn’t quite put a name to it and just as she was resuming her steps, something caught her attention.

Aro was talking to someone in a nearby room and he seemed to be lamenting a game of chess he had lost, but that wasn’t what now had Esme on edge, no, there was someone else with the King and as she heard his voice, she was able to put a name to the scent she had registered second before.

He was here, Carlisle, he was in the same caste as her and only a couple of meters away.

She heard two pairs of footsteps nearing a door a couple of steps back from were she now was standing, they were about to open that door and walk into the same hallway she was in, she could turn around and see him again but she didn’t, instead, she ran.

Esme had been sitting at one of the desks in Dunrobin’s library for a while, just like she had done for at the couple of times she had visited the castle after the first time when she deliver all the medical equipment. Her eyes just finished reading a book on the war between the Rumanian Coven and the Volturi, but her mind was somewhere else, thinking of the blond doctor that had taken her hear so many years before.


End file.
